Merry Christmas

MEERRRRRRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Super excited to talk to my fam this friday! It will be awesome! 

This week was great! I got to go on splits with my buddy Élder Barreto who I trained about 10 months ago! He is a district leader in our zone know and it was great to work with him a bit. haha My companion Élder Schinigoski is awesome, finishing his mission soon, but we are determined to finish baptizing and thanks to Heavenly Father we Baptized Rodrigo yesterday. I love how the stake is applying some recent counsel from the area presidency about retention efforts! Rodrigo is being well integrated and will soon  receive the priesthood and a calling which helps people stay active and continue progressing. I had a special opportunity on Saturday to interview a man who is starting to trail that path of righteousness, but he has done some things in the past which won't allow him to be baptized right now, but I know that God loves all of His children and He is waiting for all of us to accept His Grace and be saved by it, so that we may be happy here on earth and in the heavens. The ward here is amazing. they put on a Christmas activity that was top notch! food, choir, and the members brought many investigators. I felt so strongly while the choir sang a song from the primary " He sent his son" the spirit during the final phrase that was "we must follow Jesus". I know that Christ is the Gift during This season and we must receive him by following his example. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

I HAVE TO GO, but about the american, he is a returned missionary that is going to marry a brazilian returned missionary, ya pretty crazy right. 

love you 

´[Elder Anderson

Palmas is the "city of cities" of this state!

The minute I stepped off the bus my friends I could feel a significant difference in the air here- much more humid. And you know what that means. . . wet Élder Anderson all day long. HAHAHA I think I have a little bit more of a taste of what Clark experienced in Vitória, but on a smaller scale. Man it is a bit more toasty here, but I tell you what it is super organized and quite beautiful. Not to mention the amazing ward and stake that exists here. Holy cow I almost cried when a member drove us around the city in which we also visited the amazing chapels. I mean just imagine, beautiful well cared chapels, with large soccer courts and people, members, ya you can imagine how I felt after staying in Planaltina for so long where they have not yet received such facilities. Man this is a blessed place. 

My companion is Élder Schinigoski as a told you all before. He is going home this transfer, so you can imagine how that makes me feel when he talks about. .  it, hahah no, but it is just a little weird.. . . to think about. Anyway this week was great, and we are planing on  an even better one next week. We had some difficutly with investigators in the church this week, but we'll do better this week. 

Man did I mention that this city is like "city of cities" of this state. ya so sounds like the city was build like Brasília was built. My companion tells me we are like assistents to the President here in Palmas because we are so long from where they are. The city is all christmasy, can you beleive that, ya awesome, this area is a bit more weathly than I'm used to working in, but I'm not complaining. 

Today my companion and I went to the mall to buy a suit for my compaion who will go home in 5 weeks. We also prepared a small skit as a zone to share in the Christmas conference next week. It should get a few laughs. hahahha

Well, it has been good to work with such a good and experienced missionary this week. Not that I'm really young on the mission, but I love to learn something from all of my companions and it is such a priviledge to work in God's work for the salvation of souls, including our very own. God is at the Helm of this Ship. I believe that is a testimony that I have developed as a missionary is to trust in Him and in His power and that He will provide a way if i keep His commandments.

I LOVE YOU ALL! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Èlder Anderson

Transfer to Palmas

Hey Folks, Transfers were today. I'm going to PALMAS! That is a 12 hour bus ride northward. I will be Zone leader with Élder Schnigoski who will be going home this transfer. He is a great missionary from Paraná, we passed a few transfers together in Santo Antôntio and I'm pumped to be able to work with him. Èlder Patterson is serving in the same state, but he is the zone leader of another zone, but we may see each other more often now. Well, not a whole lot of time to share news, but I'm well, we baptized 2 people yesterday. And the branch is in route to receive the chapel that they much desire. I'm sitting here in the chapel of the "south wing" in Brasília listening to Élder Christensen from st. George play some sweet tunes on the Piano. We will hope on the bus in a couple of hours and by morning we will arrive in the state of Tocantins. Well I love you all and I'm thankful for your love.

Merry Christmas!!

Élder Anderson

Thanksgiving in Brazil!

HEY MOM HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you received my letter and you are well. I hope you had an excellent day and you had a awesome time. 

Thanksgiving surely was great for you all, but perhaps rivaling was my experience sticking my hands under the turkey's skin rubbing butter and seasoning all over that beautiful bird, when was the last time I had that experience- never! We even made pumpkin pie! Okay I sent dad some pictures, but I will include some for you all as well, the pictures will explain, better. 

We also had a baptism this week, Carol was baptized on Friday, she is super great and I'm really happy with her progress. She is super shy, but maybe that has to do with her life experience. She has 16 years and has been taking care of her grandma that last few since her mother died. They live in very humble circumstances, but they have such faith and hope and she will make a big difference in the branch that is growing to become a ward here and receive a chapel!!!!!! 

Man I'm officially 1 year and 4 months old on the mission. Weird right? But the work goes on. Yesterday we had a district conference which for those of you that don't know district is a small stake. I love the talks speaking of sacrifice, obedience, and the love and miracles of God for His children. I enjoyed a few comments about being called " to go" to zion, but to establish zion, that is our calling. Feel, I'm establishing zion as I work in HIS work. 

Love you all and HAPPY HOLIDAY'S

Sounds Like Brazil

 

Okay okay, so funny thing I want to tell you guys that happened this week. So I don't know if I told you, but Brazil just loves sound and there is always a car passing with blaring music or a bar with the volswagon bug in the front stacked with speakers blaring some strange music. However, my companion and i saw something this week that just made us both burst out laughing. Cars, Bicyles, homes, stacked with speakers okay, makes sense, but refrigeratores? Seriously, a personalized party machine in the form of a cooling device. . . sounds like Brazil. Other sounds of Brazil, oh "èlders, Guilherme ( recent convert of a few monthes, 14 years old.) wants you to eat lunch with him today." "Okay thanks Sister we'll go there now." We arrive at Guilhermes house today to find him on top the roof with his large fishing pole. He had prepared fried chicken, some slightly burnt rice and a salty salad- Thanks Guilherme. I was so happy to see him yesterday, because I thought he had moved and he went and made some lunch for us, he has got a good heart- I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE. 

This week I was privileged to baptize Christina. He cousin was baptized last week and we are trying to help her family a lot. Her "dad" has a drinking problem and is not getting along with his wife. Serious Issues, but nothing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can't fix. I realized the potent power of addiction, pride, and anger, but also I realized his desire for help, so we'll see if a little faith and repentance won't do the trick- there is nothing that our God cannot do. He is a Holy on of Israel, it is He that walked the path of pain, and death so that we might not if we would but repent. I feel the desire to help God in His Purpose and as my Mission President put it this week. God wants His kids back. We had a great meeting this week with the zone leaders and I learned great things about the Gospel and Leadership. The President also shared with me some thoughts about the "last days" and man I tell you what, we need to be prepared, it isn' getting easier. I got to see my buddies from the MTC talk with Élder Patterson a bit, man it is awesome to have some good buddies on the mission and to make some new ones. My companion from the MTC ÉLder Goodsell is a Zone leader now too and it was great to see him. THE MISSION IS AWESOME!!!!

I love you all, I know that is is the true church of Jesus Christ reestablished on the earth in preparation for the second coming of the Savior. I know that God has blessed us with inspired leaders today to help lead and guide us and we must follow their counsel to be saved from the dangers today. 

May we recognize the blessings of God in our lives this week and feast ourselves not only physically, but spiritually as well. 

LOVE 

ÉLDER ANDERSON

If Your Investigators Run...Run After Them...It Might Still Work Out!

Hey folks, checking in Élder Anderson and boy do I have news for you!

So my companion and I were walking down the street earlier this week and we bumped into some investigators who we thought didn't want our visits any more, because we say them run from us in the street one day. Any way we discovered that it wasn't the case and we visited them and remarked their baptismal dates, their drunken father when he arrived home was also pleased to meet us, which was strange as his woman explained to us as he normally ex pulses evangelists from his home, but instead offered us to stay and eat dinner and even "pray on his head" as he stated. I felt a strong desire to help that family and am pleased with the baptism on their niece this Sunday who took with her 2 cousins 1 of which will be baptized this Saturday. My companion and I witnessed many miracles this week, including 2 girls that went to church this Sunday that we ended up visiting the same day. It didn't take long for us to realize that  one of the girls was in need of the law on chastity and my companion and I shared with the two girls the importance of of sexual purity and its part in their preparation for baptism. Later we went up the street to visit an Èlderly man of Polish decent and His wife from which country I have no clue. I shared my testimony of the doctrines pure and perfect that are contained in the Book of Mormon and invited them to read it and pray to God to know if it is True. They accepted to be baptized at the receiving of a testimony and said they will go to church this Sunday. While returning home in the shadow if rain clouds, my companion and I stopped to talk with a young girl, her mother appeared and invited us to enter. We shared with them the Plan of Salvation and I could feel so much love for them as we were able to share answers to the doubts and questions they had about our pre-mortal, mortal and post-mortal life. We invited them to be baptized as well and they will go to church this week as well. My companion and I are hoping to baptize many this month. 

It is interesting to me how God works to bring about he salvation of His children. Even though my companion and I are imperfect, inexperienced, foreigners, He uses us to be the instrument in proclaming the Gospel. Truly He uses each and everyone of us, according to our desires and worthiness to share the love of the Gospel with Those whom are without the comforting truths of the Restored Gospel. I love my call  to serve in Brasil!

LOVE 

ÉLder Anerson

"When We Crash and Burn We Can use the Experience as a Learning Opportunity"

Oi tudo mundo! Élder Anderson here. All the way from Planaltina de Goiás. Sorry about the mix up last week my p-day has returned to monday- rookie mistake, should have let you all know about the change.

But the past is in the past. . . WHaCK that is when Rafiki smacks you on the head with is witch doctor stick! I tell you what that monkey has got some great advice (Watch the Lion King again if you didn't get that reference). 

Any way, today we went to a members "Chácara" which means basically cabin as a understand it, but as you may imagine, Brasil's cabin may be a bit different from what you may understand. I attached som fotos for you all to see. Man I just feel like I'm in heaven when I visit the Chácara. Wow that was a really pleasurable visit for me today, I tell you. The members treated us so well, we ate mango, galinhada ( chicken and rice), beans, spaghetti, and afterwards a cake with Goiaba juice- so good. 

I'm so thankful to be in this beautiful country and serving this wonderful and blessed people. There are many challenges that are part of the mission, but really that is part of our lives, livin and learnin, crashin and burnin, okay Jack Johnson may have said that, but I really know that because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, when we crash and burn sometimes in our lives we can use the experience as a learning opportunity. For example, my companion and I didn't have any investigators in the church this week and I really reflected on our week and thought about what we could do better. Thanks to Jesus Christ this is possible. I'm so thankful to have this knowledge. Thanks mom for the little message you sent me last week about this subject, really helpful. 

Cool Experience this week, my companion and i were working in an area in which we weren't very familiar and stopped to ask some people for directions. I felt the desire to speak with them and mentioned we were missionaries and asked them if they had once asked themselves, "What is our purpose in life?" and "Where do we go after death." There response was, "You know we were just talking about that right before you walked up." I know that God lives and he may do miracles in our lives if we just demonstrate our faith in him, our lives are difficult, but if do as nephi said in 2 nephi 31:20 and endure to the end, we will have eternal life. 

I love you all, 

Élder Anderson  

Well I tell you one thing this week was quite the experience and not just on the edible scale, but there are some good stories to tell there as well. 

I'm livin with an American! It is awesome!, we made cookies and the other day we made pancakes with the recipe mom sent me and this awesome syrup recipe that he had. Our hispanic companions where going bonkers, you can imagine. We also had some fun Saturday morning when we went to clean the swimming pool in which we baptize people and discovered that along with our house and the rest of the city- no water. So what do you do when you don't got water in the spicket? YOU PULL IN DOWN FROM THE TREES! That is right my friend we are in Brasil and there are coconut trees here and just so happens there is a giant one on the church property! Yes I did try to climb it like that guy on "The Other Side of Heaven", but you can imagine that I felt a bit like Sid the sloth when he trys to climb the mountain and return the baby to the tribal people- ya i didn't get anywhere (my brothers will understand the "Ice Age" reference). At one point I ended up on the shoulders of my American buddy with a large pole in efforts to obtain the tasty fluid that is found in these plentiful fruits. That was fun. Shortly afterwards I found myself still unbathed and in the house of an awesome member chewing on the hoof of a thouroughly cooked cow leg. I have to admit I was doing great eating the rest of the leg, but when she plopped the hoof on my plate. . . ya, but it's Brazil man, put it in the pressure pan and we'll eat it!!!! YAAA, no but it was actually really tasty and I ate more than all the other Élders, it is a dish called Mocotó.

Okay so that is enough about my cultural life and eating habits. Really I'm so thankful to be a missionary and I felt so excited this week to work with my companion in the vineyard of the Lord, sharing our testimonies with others and the light we have received in our live through the Gospel of Christ. I felt so happy to have been an instrument in bringing a family to church this week who has a baptisimal date for this Saturday. We arrived at their home with Sunday morning and the mother said that they wouldn't be going because they were without water and needed to bath. My response was. . . "There´s water in the church!" Long story short we ended up going hand in hand with the little eight year old who was so excited to see Jesus in His church. . . "Will I see Him for Real? with a beard and long hair?" I was touched by His faith and desire to be in the presance of our Savior and asked him if he would draw a picture of Jesus to help him be reverent at church- it was going really well, but ended up a Tucan. . . okay that's cool too. Hold still lets get you some crackers. That was fun. Well I learned this experience taking this family to church that as Élder Scott said we should make the exercise of our faith our priority. We can focus on the negatives and the empty water tanks or we may focus on the Savior and His fullness and His power. I'm so thankful for the daily opportunties I have to exercise my faith and know that without my Savior I am nothing. He is the worker of miracles and He is the master in whom we must trust and we must be molded. That we may be "instruments in the hands of God". "We are His Hands"

I love you all Sorry about the adress thing I mentioned last week I was confused there was no change, it is the same adress that is written beneath. 

Go with God, "Vai com Deus" common Brazilian phrase. 

Élder Anderson

Rain, Rivers and Transfers

Well my dear ones, the heavens have opened and the rain has begun to fall, and in this city when it rains the streets turn into rivers and streams- literally. Yesterday my companion and I were almost drowned in sewer strewn rain road rivers, and just when we had finished to cross the river road like hobbits- bare foot and arm in arm, but what to our wondering eyes would appear? A car and 2 people stuck and stricken with fear. For behold we beheld and but wast did we do, help them of course as good missionaries do. By Dr. Seuss. 

Okay that is enough of the "colorful" language, but you can image we ended up quite drenched, but my heart was all warm and fuzzy in side. Ironically we ate fish, shortly after, freshly caught from the near by river road. No, but it was super tasty- don't get me wrong. The members are wonderful!

Well I wasn't transferred, I'm stickin with my Peruvian bro. I'm sure we will have lots of success and the President promised today "if we work hard we will find many special people, whom we will be able to help and whom we will never forget." that was special - let's work my friends!!!!!

I love you all, God is with Us- let us trust in His Power and His Word

Èlder Anderson

"Repentance is the process that allows us to Continue growing and Experiencing Joy"

Greetings one and all, Well I wasn't present for the festivities of the day of birth of my youngest brother, Isaac, but I was present for several others, on the same day!!! I wished them happy birthday singing "Parabéns pra você! Nesta data querida, muitos felicidades, muitos anos ter vida!" And I thought I would include Isaac in those birthday wishes as well, and no I didn't forget about our dear Grandma Hatch! I remember when she held Isaac on her birthday or a few days after- that was awesome! Family Tree just keeps growing! Well, I must say that last week I we had a family night in which the kind recent convert family made some homemade pizza that just reminded me a lot of our homemade pizza- shout out to big momma and the pizza crew. It was great, but of course I ate a little too much, darn, more self control. Well, my companion is wanting to lose weight so we are trying to make more healthful decisions v so that is good. On his part that just mostly means eating less, I suppose on my part to, but thankfully we also have access to some work out equipment. So that is nice. Man my companion and I worked a lot this week and they other day we treated ourselves to some açai, well my companion bought a bucket of it. But, man I remember when Clark tried to describe it to me and it just sounded really weird. But, now I have my own personal testimony. Man Clark you must be missing it hugh? Have you ever found some where that sells it in the states? Even wants to sell Açai there. St. George? Yesterday my companion made some visits with Jairo who is getting ready to serve a mission, we taught him how to invite someone how to be baptized and he made four invitations yesterday and we marked 2 baptismal dates. In that visit we watched the Restoration film and it was very spiritual, I felt powerful feelings and I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet and that he say God the father and His Son Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I love to study from it daily. Yesterday I read some of Jacob 5, I felt the spirit whisper to me that really work is the work of God and He is gathering His fruits so that he made keep them unto himself and the branches that give forth bad fruit will be burned. What fruits are we producing? Are they sweet or sour? I know God lives, He loves us, we are His children. Jesus Christ is our Savior, he atoned for our sins. If we exercise faith in Him, we may be cleansed from sin. Repentance is the painful process that allows us to continue growing and experience joy as we live to fulfill our baptismal covenants and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. This is the Gospel, we must apply this Gospel in our lives- the Gospel is wonderful. I hope we may all reflect upon the fruits of the Gospel in our lives. And share them with others Love you All Élder Anderson

Awesome How the Lord Shows His Love

Howdy Folks Elder Hayden Anderson 10/12/15 Keep this message at the top of your inbox To: Andy Anderson, Austin Anderson, Clarissa Lewis, John Te, jorge andrade, Lorna Anderson, Lorna Anderson, Maggie Root, Marti Zohner, Pamela Robbins, Ryan, Sydney Layton, W. Clark Anderson I'm glad to hear Grandma is well, I was a worried for her, but glad to hear she still going strong! GOOOOOOOOOOOO GRANDMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Well this week was a super duper week, full of action packed lessons with members present! We taught a whole bunch contacting and visiting with youth including a 17 year old young man who is preparing to serve a mission! He enjoyed teaching with us and is a lot more excited to serve a mission now. My companion is soooo funny and opened up a lot as we worked more this the youth this week. What can I say he has already worked as a Peruvian clown and many other things. I have to say out of the four missionaries in the house I have got a lot less experience with the "mundão" as they say in here or in English. . . "the big bad world", but it just goes to show how the gospel really can bless us all and I'm so honored to get to know such good guys and learn from them and their life experiences also. I like to think of testimony as a drawing of Christ, each of us has his or her own understanding of who he is and we draw according to our experiences. Studying the scriptures and word of the the Prophets will help us understand more correctly who he is and how we may become more like him. Prayer and Fasting are great tools as well. Well, I'm trying to apply some of these concepts as my companion and I try to serve the best way possible and although sometimes it is a bit tough it is awesome how the Lord shows us His love. . . a few day ago we were looking for an address of some awesome youth we had found earlier in the week and were excited to teach them, but we couldn't find the house! we ended up doing some other visits, but my companion felt we should try to find one of the other investigators that was among the three youth we wanted to visit. We went looking and ended up finding him and he told us he had read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and answered the questions, said a prayer and felt that it was true. His friend who is a recent convert helped in the process and even offered to get him a book of Mormon, needless to say we asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes. He went to church this Sunday and we marked a baptismal date for the 24th. He is one of the tallest 14 year old boys I have seen in Brazil. He would give a younger Austin a fun for his money, just that Austin is almost 16 AHHHHH! RUNNN FOR YOUR LIVES, FLEE THE STREETS, HIDE YOUR CHILDREN!! hahahahah just kidding Austin. You will be a responsible driver I'm sure and even more responsible in your dating habits, I'm sure. Well, my companion baptized an 11 year old girl yesterday who is the sister of a recent convert. Her mom and aunt were there and also want to be baptized, but one smokes and the other isn't married so we still got some work to do. I did some baptismal interviews this last week, but the woman I interviewed ended up not being baptized with her children, because she wasn't fully repented. I know that the commandments of the Lord are for our benefit and for our safety. If we decided to dance around the commandments we are sure to feel the pain and guilt that is a natural consequence. Yesterday we had a missionary work training during the 3rd hour of church. I was glad to start the meeting talking about "the worth of souls" I shared my testimony about my ancestor Lewis Robbins who joined the church as one man, but grew to become many, I felt the spirit strongly as a bore testimony to the members "you are the pioneers of Brasil". Looks like we may have some more family history movements going on here in the branch and I know that it will give some serious gas to the members here. Well, I love you all and just a word to the wise stay away from beer, I get to meet drunks here in the street every once in a while and really isn't going to help you in your life, just a word to the wise. Self control. . . . Sincerely, Élder Anderson

New Peruvian Companion/Conference Comments

Hello Dear ones, This week, actually last Monday evening, I received some news that there would be an emergency transfer and my companion would join the other elder in the area and I would receive a new companion. So you can imagine it was a bit of a shock and is still a bit of a transition. I will send you a picture of my companion and I and you may recognize his face from some other pictures I have sent you months ago from my time in São Sebastião- Élder Sifuentes. He is from Peru, has 6 months left on the mission and really is a great missionary. I have enjoyed teaching with him, and hope that we may have lot of success together. We have a baptism marked for this weekend ( this is the first week we haven't baptized someone in a while), it is the sister of a recent convert. We where teaching her and her family this week and we invited them to say a prayer, but nobody wanted to say it so I said I would help her say the prayer. She began by repeating what I said, until I told her to ask God for what she needs, and she hesitated for a moment and I even doubted that she would say anything, but she began to ask God that He would bless her mom that she would be able to stop smoking and be baptized with her and that God would bless her family. It was really special. Well Conference was great, I feel that I received some revelation and I'm glad to see a familiar face called as an apostle, well kind of familiar. Èlder Rasband was actually someone I thought might be called. That is super cool. Doesn't Austin have a picture with him? That would be coool. We watched conference at a members house, it worked out just great, it was just a bit toasty with just a couple of fans to cool us down. I enjoyed eating some green mango with salt and pepper, ya it is actually pretty tasty trust me. The mango is just about ripe, but most of us just can't wait. Oh I forgot to tell you something cool from a the month of September I believe in the Brasilian Liahona you will find a small article about The Federal District youth Meeting in which a missionary choir was present and you will find a tall blond leading the choir in a small picture on the side. Ya that is me, hahah! Yes I made the Liahona in Brasil! Small Newsies moment. Maybe you guys will be able to find it maybe I can send a link. Well Love you all, the other picture I sent is a family night we had while I was on splits with a greenie Elder Richardson from Missouri- super fun! LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Scott Passes/Music and the Spirit of God

Man I´m trying to think of the cool stuff i wanted to tell you that happened this week, but I forget a lot... lets see if I can remember while I write. . . Well, this week I went on splits with an Élder from Bolivia in his área, it was awesome! we visited a family that I had taught in Gospel Principles Class when they visited our branch with a relative. It was not funny as we were teaching them or trying to teach them, they were drinking this hot drink called chimarao and the woman spilled and then the man spilled and they both got there Books of Mormon wet. oh we tried to make it work to our advantage and tell them it was a sign that they

should get married, but the man was a little less excited than his girlfriend. However, even with the distraction of the spilled herbal drink it was sooo cool to see how excited they were about reading The Book of Mormon and the pamphlets together, they really could feel the Holy ghost and they were so happy about it. èlder Fernandez and I ended up marking 6 baptismal dates that day= super awesome. He was stoked and what is better is that of the 6 dates that we marked 4 went to church on Sunday. While I was away my companion confirmed a baptism for Domingo and I ended up Baptizing him, it was awesome. It was Sunday the day of the Branch Conference and the choir that we had been preparing went so well. I was on the piano another Élder on the Strings and we felt the Spirit so strongly especially during the hymn I´ll go where you want me to go dear lord. I remember feeling such a powerful spirit and after the meeting I heard that a young girl of 11 years who sang in the choir was crying because in the front row of chairs where no one was sitting she saw angels and even Jesus Christ. I believe that this work is the Lord´s work and that we are never alone. Today we had a Zone meeting and activity. We ate Cachorro quente which means hot dog in portuguese and you can imagine how different it is and them multiply that by 12. I still haven´t the handle of eating it without getting my hands all dirty. They cut up the hot dog, pút it in a tomato sauce and you stick it in a piece of bread. it isnt to bad but it has got nothing on the real american hot dog- oh man just got trunky. . . okay lets keep moving. So we played with water balloons and soccer, too, gotta wup up on Isaac when I get home you know, ahhaha ya im still not too good. Man when I heard that Élder Scott passed away i grabbed my liahonas and started studying his recent conference addresses and found some great counsel that I felt was just for me. I think that is when we really know that we are feeling the Spirit is when we feel something is just for us, I love that feeling and I know that we are guided today by men of God and I am soo thankful to be a member of this church and share my testimony with others. This week my companion and I taught a girl whose father is a pastor. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and she said she would read it out of curiosity and from a historical viewpoint, you can imagine the red lights that went of in my head and I was able to bear my testimony to her about The Book of Mormon and the influence it may have in our lives if we would but open our heart to the message it offers and seek this Jesus from the words of His prophets living and dead. Well I love you all, I hope you are enjoying the fall weather, I believe we are going to start seeing some serious rain here pretty soon. God Bless you all

Filling up the Branch to Qualify for New Chapel!

Man I don't know where to start. . . 

Well first of all we had two baptisms yesterday. Two brothers of 14 and 11 years. That was a real trail of faith to get them baptized, but in the end it all worked out just great. They both chose me to baptize them and I tell you what I don't think I have ever tried so hard to help two people be baptized. On top of it all my companion and I weren't feeling to well, with stomach pains and weakness, but the lord prepared a way and they were baptized. Before the baptism we had our second-to-last rehearsal for the choir, branch conference is this Sunday and the branch is excited to fill up the building in hopes to qualify for a new chapel!! After the baptism we had a special training by the missionaries about retention, we split everyone into two groups and chose team captains who will be responsible for retention efforts for converts with the last year. We are going to accompany the effort for the next 5 weeks. It was pretty exciting and I believe those who participate will be blessed along with those are receive their services. Member missionary work is the key. 

I really like a message the an Élder share last week in the house of a very special member of the church. He said that our investigators aren't the only people that need saving, but the missionaries who meet special souls during their service in the field. I feel this is so true. There is an old lady that treats us so well in the branch, in fact we ate lunch there today and she presented umbrellas to each of us to help protects us from the hot sun. She is soo humble and shares all that she has with others regardless if it will benefit herself- she is a true disciple of Christ. 

oh my goodness I have to tell you something I had my first shoulder massage since I left the states. . . at the hands of a 4 year old girl! It was great, she wanted 2 reals for it which is Brazilians currency, but it was worth every cent haha, oh mango season is right around the bend, but many youth can't wait for it so what do they do they eat em green with salt and some other seasonings, I like it, but it may give you a tummy ache if you aren't careful. haha Love you family!

Well family here are some picuters for you to enjoy 

Have an awesome week!

Élder Anderson

I'm Still Standing!

Hello family, I have good news! I wasn't transferred. The other three missionaries in our house stayed as well. My companion and I are super excited about the missionaries that entered into the zone and are hoping we can baptize even more children of God this transfer. It is great to be a missionary! I liked a thought that was shared in the transfer meeting this morning in Asa sul, which means south wing, just a side note in the plano or plane which is the the heart of Brasília in the federal district was designed like a plane, with two wings and is extremely organized. Now that isn't to say that the rest of the mission is like that in fact the plane and parts of the federal district are usually more organized than the other mission areas. But I tell you what, I was born in the state of Goias and it feels like home to me. hahahh.

Any way so returning to that thought from the transfer meeting, one of the assistants to the president mentioned an experience from sacrament meeting in which a newly ordained deacon distributed the sacrament from the confines of a wheel chair with the assistance of his father. I felt so happy that even though we all have weaknesses some that can be seen and others unseen, God allows us to help in his Glorious Work. I remember as a young teacher in the Aaronic priesthood the example of my older brother Nolan as a Priest waking up early to prepare the sacred emblems of the sacrament each Sunday. He understood the principle of service and of the priesthood, What awesome examples I have in my life. you all included. My companion and I are different, but together we are having a lot of success in the work. We had 5 baptisms this transfer and are excited to help more families live the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm trying to develop some o the attributes that are promised to me of faith, wisdom , and courage through service to my fellow man. What a blessing I have to serve. I am called to serve all the time. That is sooo awesome! That is what Christ did. 

Well i love you all here is a picture of a member from the branch that loves to help out the missionaries, I was thinking she is a bit like mom, from the first picture she seems tall right? Look at the second picture and the plot thickens! ahaah

Prayer Helps Us Realize the Power and Love of God

I am well, we baptized a young man this week and he and a friend of his showed up in the church today where we were having a zone activity and said that his friend wanted to be baptized and that I should baptized him. I  felt honored and hope that we can help him prepare to be baptized soon and be part of the growing branch here in Planaltina. 

Yesterday was awesome! I saw God's hand in my life so much, prayer helps us realize even better the power and love of God for each of His children. We visited a man who I had spoken with the week before on the bus. It was kind of a mutual effort in the encounter I had asked him for help and later thanked him for his kindness and he asked me what I do. Needless to say we ended up in his house and man it was so great to help him and invited him to prayer about the Book of Mormon and the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. his family is super catholic, but he stopped participating in the religion and church of any sort because of doubts he had had about the many churches. It is clear the Lord waned us to find him, he has suffered 3 car accidents in the past 6 years in which the cars have been totaled and he uninjured. 

We had an amazing experience with a member the same day. An Elderly Sister called us and said she wanted to go with us on a visit that we had previously mentioned to her on Sunday. The commitment had fallen through, but we decided to go visit a recent convert that we had had a hard time finding the past few weeks in hopes to help you make more friendship with this member. I prayed in my heart that we would find her and the lord answered my prayer and we felt the spirit so strongly testifiing of members and missionaries working together in the work of salvation. we will have a family night tonight the the two families and some friends of the recent convert.I felt so happy: golden member.

Here are some pictures of the baptism and I will send some pictures of the zone activity

I'm Happy!

Well it is with great love and graditude with which I speak with you today and I would like to say that. . . I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Anyway let's get down to busniness. . . to defeat the huns. . . okay for real. . .

So we had a super week, lots of new investigatores, we like to do a thing called "estante" if that is how you spell it. And basically you get yourself a table and some mondern literery gospel resources and place them all perrrty-like on the table. Next, you get your table and you place it in a stratigic location where their is a surplus of people- nuf said. I think i made my point. 

This way we end up finding loads of people who are interested in our missionary messages. Including a nice family with whom we marked a baptismal goal for 2 weeks from now. They really liked church on Sunday and made some comments about needing to leave their old church and join ours. Well not ours, but the church of God. Speaking of which what an amazing Sacrament meeting! We had 5 confirmations and I was able to participate in 3 of them. I really felt the importance of these saving ordinances, there was such a strong spirit present. And the speeches were on the Day of the Lord, Jejum and Avoiding pride, bitterness, and gossip. It was a super special day. We also had choir and began some disorganized piano instruction which is why I'm without a voice today, yah not sure how that happened. Oh so I sent you all some pictures of baptisms just now and we baptized a nine year old girl whose uncle is a member of the church, she is so incredible and seems to have a inapt capacity to recognize truth and act upon it. Her family is a working progress, but her uncle received the priesthood that same day and is super awesome. I told him he reminds me a bit of my uncle Brandon Jarrett- you know awesome and all- shout out to the Jarrett family!!!! Love you sooooooo much!!!!!

Oh I watched Meet the Mormons almost 2 times completely this last week, ya my companion has the film and we ending up watching it with some recent converts- great stuff. "It's like a symphony, just keep listening, pretty soon you'll start, to figure out your part.". . . 

Oh I just remembered some bad news I need to tell you guys. . . my flash drive last we picked up a virus. . . ya you know the story, cleaned it, I'm pretty sure i won't get it back, but the good news is is that you have half of it all in that little pin drive I sent you a while back and the other fourth I have on my camera currently, so I just ended up loosing some picture from the last part of my time in São Sebastião, but if you guys are saving the pictures I'm sending you in the emails, maybe we aren't even missing that much- wow when I made that realization monday afternoon- that was just another testament that God exsits let me tell you. That much I know. 

Well my dear ones, I really must be going. Today I played soccer and my companion and I got supplies for our zone and spent about 5 hours on the bus, hence I'm writing email so late, Oh Élder Costa is going to talk to us next week, super excited, love you all have a great week!!!!!

ÉLder Anderson

3 Baptisms....Arise and Seize the Day!

Dearest Family I am writing you! 

This week we had 3 baptisms here in Planaltina de Goias! I'm currently loading the photos for you to see the proof! I was privileged to baptize Maria, the lady who found us in the street and man that was special to teach her and get into the water too- yah! I also was able to interview the 8 year old son of the other lady that was baptized. I was so surprised when I began to talk with him and he mentioned that he had some scary experiences with evil spirits and how excited he was to be baptized so that these bad things would go away. We talked about light and how when light is present, darkness is as he said- "destroyed". He is going to receive the light and presence of the Holy Ghost next week and he is super excited to pay tithing and keep the word of wisdom as well. . . wow my companion is awesome. . . he just bought me a Coca- Cola. . . . okay now that I'm refreshed where was I. . . oh yes baptism, salvation, eternal happiness and satisfaction. That is my work you know, or rather The work of my God. 

This week I had some special realizations of the importance of the Gospel as I studied the first chapter of Preach My Gospel this week. I love this quote from Élder Oaks in which he explains that the preaching of the Gospel is literally opening the gate of salvation for the children of God, we don't preach for any other reason other than this- open the gates.

"Open the gates and seize the day, don't be afraid and don't delay, nothing can brake us, no one can make us, give our rights away. . . 

ARISE AND SEIZE THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thank you Newsies! wow I got the chills all over while writing that.

Anway so I have set a goal for the second half of my mission, a number of people to whom I will open the gates of salvation, the path to eternal life. My goal is to baptize 2x's more people than I baptized last year and I know that it is very possible. Our mission President has reminded us to 1. Baptize 2. Rescue 3. Strengthen. Yesterday my companion and I spent a few hours helping with the branch choir and I began to teach the youth piano, we are going to start for real next week and I'm super excited to see the benefits of the this work, including English class that we had on Saturday. My area is super great and I'm learning a lot about the importance of service, love, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ! I love you family, share you light with the world!

LOVE ÈLDER ANDERSON

"Killed a Missionary" (Took to Airport-Finished Mission)/Most Inspired Talk

Okay so I understand if you are a bit disappointed with my last few letters, it has been a bit hurried lately, sorry about that.

This week my companion and I did some serious traveling to do some baptismal interviews, Oh and I "killed" a missionary this week, that was really ruff, I think I was more trunky than he was. He went home on friday and that night my companion and I went my bus to Posse which is a 4 hour bus ride. We arrived there 4 in the morning and returned on Sunday. 

Sunday during the meeting I was asked to give a talk. I felt I should talk about the Restoration and how Joseph's Smiths prayer was answered and I ended up including the Liahona from March 2008 if you know what I mean. It was one of the most special talks I have ever given in my life, I really felt guided by the spirit and I felt the gift of tongues on my side as well. This week I felt the same way when we were teaching a young woman about the commandments in preparation for her baptismal interview. Super cool feeling, so thankful for it.

I was happy to see in church yesterday a woman that stopped to talk to us in the street this week. She shared some interesting experiences which other churches and how she kinda flipped out in the catholic church and prophesied that it would be destroyed and stuff like that. What was super interesting was when she saw the name Joseph Smith on the back of the Resoration pamphlet she new the name and seemed to recognize it from somewhere. I invited her to be baptized and marked a date for the 23. She is progressing, we just have to find her house and teach her before her baptism. During the entire sacrament meeting she was just holding her bosom and seemed like she was really recognizing te Spirit, super cool.

We are having choir every Sunday and I feel a bit like dad trying to help these guys with their singing abilities, trying to apply what the big pa taught me, that's all. The youth are excited to learn english and sing as well.

Well, sorry if it is a bit shor today, too, but I gotta go, Love you all and will hope to improve my letters more each week. hahaha, busy, busy!

LOVE YOU

Èlder Anderson

Started a Choir/Companion;Great Missionary

Hey family I hope you saw my pictures that I sent you right now. 

My companion is from São Paulo. He is a great missionary, suffered cancer in the blood as a 13 year old, his parents are separated, and working on getting back together while his dad is living in Brasília! Ya that is nuts, but he doesn't contact him or anything it is just a bit interesting. He is a great soccer player and he wants to learn English so he can maybe play on the BYU team. Ya we jumped on the English train already if that is what you were wondering. We played soccer this morning so that was awesome, I'm having more fun, and not ruining the games so that is good and all hahah.

We married and baptized a couple this week, that was super cool. Élder Ellis is another ÉLder that is staying with us until he goes home on Friday. He was the former Zone leader here and it is nice to get some advice from him. . . . 

oh my gosh. .  some one is listening to the numa numa yeah song. oh my gosh that is a blast from the past. My brothers know what I'm talking about, oh my gosh that is so funny hahahahha, numma numma yeah,

anyway so I am well, my area is big and awesome, I returned to the state of Goias and I feel at home here. They members are great and we are excited to work with the youth then branch president. We started a choir yesterday and I was able to give some vocal tips to the women, we are also going to have English class on Saturday so that is cool. This time I think it will work even better. 

I love you all, but I have to go 

TCHAU