November 18, 2013: Cleaning house in Ourinhos

November 18, 2013

Do you get much exercise (besides walking everywhere) each day?

We should, I am a little lazy half the mornings. It’s worse when it’s cold. If it’s hot, I just hop up and go.

How are the bugs down there? Very many in your apartment?

Ants, and spiders, we have a ton.

Who are you teaching now?

Nobody, we just opened an area

Do you have favorite scripture stories that you like to tell when you are teaching?

I love the story of Moses, it really describes the purpose of a prophet. Also Zeezrom has the best repentance story in 2 verses :P

This week!!!!

This week was a crazy week. I was transferred because we lost a lot of elders, and I was moved to Ourinhos. For the first couple of days, we taught my old investigators in Marilia because we couldn't get to our area till Thursday. We got there, and we had the worse house ever. It was so terrible; I don't know how anyone lived there. So we cleaned the house. Also we got new supplies, a new map, and a few other things to help us with our work. Seeing as we didn't have much time, we kind of hit the ground running, and in the following days we walked all over the city, visited their old investigators, and we found a lot of new ones. We also have been getting a lot of media references lately because of Facebook that we had to pass too. So all of these things were things we started doing when we got here.

We had this miracle today as we were able to overcome a lot of our goals this week, and we were extremely obedient. (it’s a little hard sometimes, but I think that my companion, Elder Christensen is the most obedient guy on the mission. though I'm still curious to know if all these rules are actual rules or not...)

But as to who we are teaching, we kind of just taught everyone, we haven't really had a list of potentials yet, so we are gonna work really hard this week to find people with desire to go to church, and those people will have desire to get baptized!!!

I'm so excited for this transfer, we are all ready to go, just have to clean house a little more and everything will be already!!

Miss you all, and this week will have more to say, and some more pictures, but for now, here’s me fighting a tiger!

November 11, 2013: Teaching Bruna and Dimitri, learning some sign language, and got transferred again!

Nov 11, 2013

What miracles did you witness this week?

We passed by Bruna and Dimitry, and they wanted to hear more about the gospel, and they went to church again. They are ex Buddhist and atheist, and they are very smart. Very very smart :)

What made you mad this week?

Hmmm, not sure. Little things when you don't get that much sleep seem to put me on edge sometimes

What made you happy?

Helping Bruna and Dimitry and finding some really cool people that will go to church.

How is your luggage holding up?

Its small. I have 2 suitcases, and one duffel bag that was really cheap and is dying. I might leave something here.

Did you learn anything new this week?

There was a guy in our ward that does sign language. Old funny man. I started trying to talk to him, and he taught me some things that I could say, so next time that I talk to someone, I can do it in signs. (Still don't know barely anything, but I can say a few basic church vocab.)

What skills that you possess do you find most useful on your mission?

Being excited is the best, smiling helps find the best people that are ready to hear the gospel, and to attract others. I found you have to talk to everyone and you will find the one sheep that still needs a Sheppard.

So it was a good week. We worked with a few people, including Sarah, Bruna, Dimitri and Ana Paula. It was a good week; though it was a really, really long week. The best part though was the fact that we were really blessed in various ways, in the fact that we now have desks and the fact that we had some really awesome people go to church this week.

The other news is I was transferred to Ourinhos to be with Elder Christensen, (not the same one, and in the same zone as I am)

That’s all I got, but I'm out of time, everyone write me soon!

Elder Anderson

November 4, 2013: Baptized Anna Paula, and teaching Sarah. The miracle of the new old shoes.

Nov 4, 2013

Well here we are one more week, and one harder week at that. I am just so worn out, and here’s what we did.

First Tuesday, we cleaned the old house. This day we had a few chores to run, things to get, and had to run to the old house.

(This part is important)

So at the old house, it was really dirty. We had to scrub, sweep, and just do some really hard work. One of the things I found was the old shoes of Elder Rodriguez, which were practically new. Like a little worn, but perfect otherwise. So I took them cause my old shoes were a little worn down.

The next 2 or 3 days I wore the pair I got at the old house. We lunch on Friday and I decided to use the other pair. It was odd because my foot seemed to have pain, I looked at it and there was a huge hole in it, probably an inch wide. It was the first time I had worn them since I got the new old pair, and they were gonners. I know that the Lord watches out for us and answers our prayers and our faith.

The other great blessing is that my companion and I baptized Anna Paula this week. I was so happy to see her take that step, because she has been having a lot of fear this week and wasn't sure if she was ready to go get baptized. The great thing was that we were able to have the help of several members, and to get her willing to baptize. The best part was she received her own response. On Thursday, I believe she prayed, and that night she dreamed that she was in the church, and someone handed her a white handkerchief. She woke up still holding tight to it on her chest. She decided that was an answer and was baptized this Sunday. Here are the pictures!



The other great thing is that we are starting to get through to the other investigator that we have, Sarah. She decided that she wants to get baptized, but the problem is that her mom is openly and totally against it. She will have to make her own choice, because she is over 18. It will be hard, but I think she will get baptized, because this was her 4th time in church. she’s cool!

Anyway, gotta go, 11 months party tomorrow, almost half way! Hump day in 1 month!

Elder Anderson

October 28, 2013: Teaching Anna Paula and baptizing Patricia and Francisco

October 28, 2013

First of all this week was a really hard week to work, my companion had to go to Londrina to get his visa renewed, and so I was stuck in a trio 2 days this week. But what we did, we worked a lot with 2 people. One was Sarah. Sarah is a snake. This means that she is very flirtatious with my companion, and she isn't afraid to show it. Thankfully she respects our rules, and she is making some really big changes in her life. I like working with her, but it can get a little awkward sometimes, and she is a bit ditsy, but we'll get past that. She has been to church 3 times, and she loves the lessons, but doesn't want to take the step for baptism. Here is a picture of her and her mom.



Next is Anna Paula, she is a really, really happy person. I love teaching her; it is like our go to person to get animated. She has one daughter and we helped them move to a new house (just 2 blocks from our house thankfully, it’s a lot closer.) and we were joking and laughing the entire time. She understands, and wants to get baptized, but she just has a little fear of what will happen. She always says that people got to church, then stop and become bad people. But she said she will baptize if she is ready, and she consented to baptize if she passes the interview, and we set a goal for her, and we will try and baptize her this Saturday. It will be a really exciting day for her, especially since it was a holiday! Here is a picture of her.



But the best of all, we had a double baptism and a marriage this Saturday. Patricia and Francisco. They have been going to church for over 2 years and they finally were able to get married (he travels a lot) and we were able to be a part of it all. We went to the Cartorio (the marriage place) and we took pictures of them signing the papers and all of the good parents as well, and it was really cool. That same night we baptized them, and it was a really cool experience, the whole ward was there. Here is a few pictures of them (next email)

But that’s about it. We had a great week, our numbers were low, but I know that I exerted my forces to talk with everyone, so while the numbers were low, I did a lot more than it showed. It was a good week.

Here's Elder Doan

Anyway, I miss you all, write me soon! Your favorite missionary is anxiously waiting!





Elder Anderson

October 21, 2013: New companion, new area, new opportunities

Oct 21, 2013

I had an emergency transfer, and I am with Elder Doan now.

How are things this week?

Well they were good, I like my new area though it’s definitely hard being a missionary. It got hot again, so teaching in the street is terrible. But we managed to teach 44 lessons this week, without entering a house. (We might have entered a few, but max 5) and we had less references than lessons. Go figure. I feel like I've talked to at least a million people since I've been here.

I know your seasons are different than ours, is it getting hotter as we are getting colder?

Yeah it’s hot now, and just getting worse

Did you already find a new shoulder bag?

We found out about changing bags the last week, and I went to some stores, found a couple things, but most were a bit more expensive, but I managed to strike a deal at a little used thrift shop thing. It was 20 and I worked her down to 15, and that’s about 7 dollars, for a pretty sweet shoulder adventure bag.(seriously I feel like Indiana Jones with this thing!)

But it’s a little small, just big enough for the things I need to carry around through the day, I might go look for 1 of 2 things for days I need a little more space, find a briefcase or just a bag a little bit bigger so that I can put folders and things in it for meetings like zone conference and meetings and divisions.

Tuesday we went on division, I went with Elder Barton, who is from my group, and it was pretty awesome, we talked to 150 people that day (and got about 25 references) and it was a bomb division. We had a guy tell us I’m tired of you Mormons, if you have courage take this - and handed Elder Barton his pipe. (At this point he was wigged out). And he was like whoa you’re courageous. Give it to him. So I took it. And he was really impressed by us, and told us he was sorry and walked off.

The next day I found my bag, I’ll send some pics latter, I don't know if I have time right now, but Elder Doan is really picky, so he is trying to find something he likes, and everything is expensive. We’ll see what he gets.

Also I had a dog pee on my shoe this week, that was annoying. We had a person tell us that he was the only prophet in the world, and he was gonna go on the bridge and start prophesying.

Also we had 2 good possibilities, Anna Paula who we met Saturday and went to church last Sunday, and Sarah, our hard core snake for Elder Doan (who can resist blond hair blue eyed Elder Doan?)

But that about sums up my week, I gotta go now, but hope to hear from all soon!

Love you!

Especially you mom!

Elder Anderson

Elder Anderson, Anna Paula, Elder Doan

Elder Doan

Elder Doan, Sarah, Anna Paula, Elder Anderson

October 15, 2013 - Transferred again

Oct 15, 2013

So I'm not sure, but I think it was a bit of food poisoning, and motion sickness together, because I just don't throw up because one or the other. But I'm okay now.

Do you have many opportunities to serve?

Yeah, but nobody wants us to serve them, it’s funny. Prideful Brazil.

How much time do you usually spend serving as opposed to teaching?
Mostly teaching. All day. We had about 40 lessons this week. About as many references that we had. We try and get people to go to church first before we teach them, then they will have a desire to baptize. :P

Why did they decide to put you back with Elder Millet?

President is inspired, though the following story will explain a bit more.

How is your new area?

It’s great, I got put in a city again, with 4 Americans, me and 3 others. it’s a really cool house, one is even from my group, Elder Barton, so it’s a good bunch!

What does it look like?

Middle class brazil, not poor, but not rich either. Some rich every now and then

How does it compare to your other areas?

Not sure, I've only been here 4 day :P explanation below

Have the members received you well?

So far yes, I taught with a bunch of members the last few days, even though my companion complains about the members. it’s been going well. I'm gonna work on working with the members a lot this transfer. I want to have a week with over 20 member lessons, that will be the best.

So this week was hectic. Last pday, after, we got a call saying pack your bags, you will go to Marilia, which was the bus ride back to where I was, the same ride that I got sick on last time. So I packed, and got transferred to Marilia, and on the way, my bus was late, didn't make it that day, and had to stay in the bus terminal for a few hours alone (I think that must be how it feels to be going home, so alone...) and finally at 8:30 someone showed up and got me to the secretary’s house. That was a good night. But when I finally got here, we started working a ton, doing a lot of finding work because they had cut all of their old investigators and were looking for new. With 3 days of work, we were able to find 4 new people to go to church, and they all went and felt the sprit, and hopefully will want to get baptized! It will be a good week this week.

Also we had zone conference this Friday, which was good, I learned a lot, found some things that I will keep with me and use as I teach and move forward with my mission. I know that our president was inspired. I won't lie after when we watched 17 miracles, I cried. I felt the spirit so strong the entire conference, and can't wait for mission tour next month.

Also, new rule, we have to use saddle bag kind of deals. I don't know how to call it, but we are no longer allowed to use backpacks, So I will have to go shopping... dang.

So sorry mom that I have to go and use a little personal money :/ also between having to buy medicine this last week and killed my funds with the transfer, so I used a bit of money to buy supplies and food to live...

Anyway gotta go now, miss you all! write me soon!

Elder Anderson

Transferred again, got really sick, met some great members.

Oct 7, 2013

So this week we got transferred. We both got transferred to the same zone, but I'm with Elder Millett again, and he (Elder Altamirano) is with Elder Carlos.

(Elder Carlos is kind of funny, he speaks a bit of English, but he likes the phrase “oh no” a lot. I don't know why.)

Here’s how this week went: I hoped on the bus Tuesday, and went to Londrina. That was about 6 hours I think. Something like that. But that day, we ended up getting a bunch of natural juice, explored the city and went to the stores. (Didn’t get anything, I didn't have any desire yet.)

It was kind of cool, I got to spend the day with Elder Caldeira and Elder Oliva and Elder Poore, all realy funny guys. It was also a treat to see Elder Delgado that night with his new trainee. Both elder pore and elder delgado are from my group, so I had a god time talking to them.

The next day we got on the bus again to Cascavel and Foz where they went. That was another 6 hours, and I felt really sick. I hate riding the bus, especially the cheap bus that shakes you around all the time and stops every 30 minutes to pick up people and let them off. So that night when we were at the house of an investigator, I threw up. I felt really bad. The nice thing is she’s a mom, and she was right out with a cup of herbal tea, and some medicine, so I took it gladly.

The next day I threw up again, (Thursday now) and I went to lunch and ate very little. And after that it started getting bad again, and the member had me lay down, and I talked to Sister a bit, and she let me sleep and go to the hospital. I slept almost that entire day (which was good cause it was raining) but I am so glad that people here treat me like their own son because they know how hard my own mother must feel that she can't help me out (though she would probably just laugh ;P )

But after the day of hard sleep, I was finally able to eat again with the thanks to some really nasty medicine, and I am back up working again. 100 percent.

The next day we left with the son of that member (who is American, 3 of their kids are and speak perfect English), got chewed out by our investigator that doesn't want to give up coffee... :/ it was sad.

But conference came and we watched 2 in Portuguese and the others in English, it ended up being a really really good conference, and I took over 20 pages of notes (and I still haven't watched the priesthood session, I’ll have to study that in my own time.)

Between all, it was a really god week. I met some really cool people, including Manuel and his family, the Americans, and Susie, a 3 year convert return missionary, and some really cool members and investigators. I already love this area; everyone is just asking to be baptized!!!

I miss you all, and I love the work here, thanks for all your support!

Elder Anderson

September 23, 2013 Videos

Sept 30, 2013

How are you?

Well, that is a very broad ended question. We’ll start with the feet this week. So they are a little red, but they got better, and still are. The cream is a bit weird, but it’s kind of funny describing it to people. So better. The shoes I have are wonderful too, though I might look into getting another pair around Christmas to have 2 good pairs, one to air out and one to wear.

My body is sore, but that’s because I started doing pushups again (it warmed up enough that I can get out of my bed in the morning without being freezing cold.)

Our new member (Silvia who was confirmed this week) gave us suits, she had a brecho (used store) and they are really stylish. (imagine old man style :P) so I'm gonna send a few pictures of that.

My mind is tired, but I think that’s from all the contacts that I've done and the fact that I've been studying Isaiah in Nephi. (It makes sense this time!) And also that we did a lot of contacts this week and had a lot of nothing. It kind of was a slow week. The area was moved back to just the zone leaders now. I think it was because of the lack of investigators in our area, which is kind of sad.

But as for transfers, so I will be with my trainer again (Elder Millet), in Cascavel (right next to where I trained here :P with elder Altamirano in my district. this is going to be a weird transfer, but I'm excited!)

My area Coqueiral!

Who is your favorite Book of Mormon prophet?

Gonna say Jacob (he saw Jesus Christ too :P)

Bible prophet?

Moses or Isaiah, (they have some really cool stories!)

And I don't know about modern day prophet, that would be hard to say, but I have a few that I like, like Ezra Taft Benson, and Joseph Smith, or our prophet today! (Gordon B Hinkley was also up there :) )

And why? What inspiration to you get from them?

I really like the things that they taught, some of the miracles that they performed, and there is a lot of other things, I don't know. I really love Alma too. I think his life is an inspiration to anyone.

Anyway, gotta go, thanks for all the letters. Time to pack!!!

Elder Anderson

Foot issues

Sept 23, 2013

Questions and answers:

How are things down south?

Well, this week was a really short week, they all seem to blur together, I don't understand why, but it was a good week, because we had a really strong baptism this week, her name is Silvia, I'll write more about her at the bottom :P

Was last week an up week or down week?

It was mostly an up week, though I’m not gonna lie, the cold kinda put a damper on it, but I powered through it, still holding strong. :P

How is your suit holding up?

My suit’s fine, I only use it once a week if I use it - so not very often.

Pants?

Pants are fine, though I found a gaping hole in the pocket of one of my suit pants (good thing I only wear them every now and then - that could get a little annoying).

But, as for pants, my companion - all of his pants have huge holes in the crotches (I'm not sure how they got there on all of them, and why they are so big... seriously, I don't know how I don't notice them all day, but he manages to hide them.) He got a pair of pants the other day from another elder, so he's gonna make it fine.

Shirts?

I had to get some stain remover, (for my pit stains that look like someone poured rust on my shirts...) and the stains are gone, just missed one shirt, so I need to wash that one really well.

Are you washing clothes by hand, or with a machine?

Machine, though I have washed by hand a few times here, it just is a lot harder and takes a bit longer. (kind of annoying too, glad I live in the 21st century ;)

How big is your refrigerator?

Smallish, doesn't hold a ton of food.

Do you have a stove and microwave?

Thankfully yes, I don't have to cook in a pit over a handmade fire (that’s called barbecue/churrasco here. it’s just about the best thing ever :P )

How many elders are in your apartment?

Just us.

What three things do you love about Brazil so far?

Churrasco, fruits, and terere (though it’s been a few months since the last time I had terere). So pretty much the foods here are really good. I'm working on learning how to cook like they do here.

What three things are the most challenging?

People not wanting to hear anything about the church or wanting to bible bash with you; the heat; and teaching classes in church. I just can't capture attention yet. I'm still learning though, I found I can give a really good discourse on improv :P

As for our baptism, so we found Silvia last week. She was walking along and we did a contact with her, inviting her to go to church. She said she would, we passed by her that night, confirmed, and she decided she would go with her granddaughter. The next day when we woke them up, they almost decided not to go, but they did. So it ended up going well. We taught them all week, and she brought us food from the place she works all week (salgados/ colaches) it’s kind of like sweets, but they are snack food, like hotdogs or ham and cheese and other things like that in the form of a nonsweet donut. I really don’t have a way to describe it.

Anyway, we taught them, she always calls us her soldiers, and she always talks about us highly. She is really happy, and it’s really cool to see what she is doing to change her life (like giving up all of her coffee and alcohol and tea the 2nd day). she is also bringing her mom to the church this next week (she slept in this week :P) and she wants us to teach her niece and her girlfriend too, (we taught the girlfriend Bruna, I think she's cool with us, though I don't think the niece likes us quite so much). So we'll work on that the next week, see how that goes, and try and find someone to baptize, maybe this man that we invited and went to church that had this huge accident with his back. He is kind of cool.

Anyway, today we're going to the zoo, so it will be fun, I'm kind of excited, glad to hear that you are all doing great! Write me soon!

Elder Anderson