Nephites, Toilets and Baptisms

Hello dear family!

So one of the Elders here always calls me Néfitão which means big nephite. I think it is kind of funny, the next thing is that here in Brazil you don't put toilet paper in the toilet, you put it in the trash. The funny thing is, one of the Brazilian Élders forgot and clogged the toilet and left it there.. . . for a while. Until one day a brave young lad, knowing that many had tried there best to unclog the old stinker, decided to brave it on his own! Ya I felt pretty cool. Turns out the elder who clogged the toilet also lost his back pack a month ago due to my companion and I so I still need to help him purchase a back pack, but I will remind him of that day and maybe that will soften his heart. 

Oh and the most important baptisms. Élder B. Almeida, Élder Barreto and I all participated in the marriage and baptism of Weverton and Flavia, including the baptism of her son Elias. It was absolutely wonderful, the first family I have had the opportunity to baptize and Weverton chose me to baptize him. He has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and loves reading it and learning, and wants to receive His Patriarchal blessing and finish His schooling. Flavia has such a warm personality and a strong testimony of the Spirit she too felt while reading Alma 5, Elias is pure in heart and will be a great priesthood holder. The family of Flavia was at the baptism and who knows more baptisms may be following. We have a family night planed with Weverton tonight and are going to try to start teaching his uncle and family- Weverton and Flavia have a huge family, some are members but less active- James we also visited him this week, he is having a hard time getting work of to go to church, but we promised him that the treasures most precious are those that we store in heaven through our obedience on the Earth. 

The transfer will be ending next week and I am interested to see what will happen, I feel that i will stay with my companion, but the other companionship that has been a bit of a burden, because they don't want to work together any more I think will be divided. It has been a good opportunity for me to try to humbly serve them and encourage them to continue working. I traded companions with them a couple times this week to help with situation and help motivate one of the Élderes. I'm learning that a leader has to be soo humble and patient and really serve with love for each one of His district members. It is hard to that we are all disobedient to some degree, but we have to help each other be the best we can be, and I feel that the example of Christ should be our pattern. 

We taught our investigator Luciano yesterday who is progressing and has promised to obey the word of wisdom until General Conference in search for a witness of this church as the church of God on the Earth. He will be a powerful leader when his is baptized. A really kind man, searching for truth. It will be a bit complicated with his catholic wife, but we will work on that.

I love the mission and working with ward leaders, stake leaders and mission leaders. We had ward conference this Sunday and what an edifying experience and opportunity to hear the words of an inspired stake leader- really these men are called of God- really excited for General Conference!

Love you All

Élder Anderson

Dreams, Prayers and Visions

Hello my beloveds,

I'm pleased to hear that you are all well, Clark is dancing, must be madly in love, what great selections of music- I will be expecting some of the music, please. I'm going to be an uncle. My father and mother are so awesome, today I watched a film that Clark put on my flash drive of "Silent Night" in the tabernacle and I showed it to my companion and an investigator, even I was impressed. We are so blessed with the opportunity to develop musical talents- beautiful. Today is P-day, but we were invited to eat lunch with an investigator and ended up leaving a message with his son as well about the Book of Mormon. We are preparing a lot of strong Spirits here as of late, I have a lot of hope for this man and His family, hope a miracle happens after he goes with us to General Conference and the baptisms this weekend. Yes baptisms, A couple that will be married this Wednesday and baptized Saturday, I would say working with this family has been one of the more delightful experiences I have had on the mission, such faith, and Spirit, and wow, I'm going to baptized the 23 year old father. What a wonderful experience- the President is going to be there as well, including Elder b. Almeida, he is going to baptize the wife, Flavia.

Interesting, we ate lunch with the future David Archulete of MMA here in Brazil and he told me that he had a dream that I was getting married, dressed in a light colors near the temple, to a beautiful blonde girl.. . hum, 

This week my companion and I were teaching Adriana, a recent convert about eh Priesthood. She had previously told us about some difficulties she was having with finances, marriage, and her son, and as we were about to dedicate her home, her son entered the small living space. We invited him to pray with us; I dedicated the home, and prompted by the Spirit we started to explain a bit about the priesthood to this 18 year old. I felt the Spirit encourage me to invite him to be baptized, and he accepted. Such love God has for His children. We can not judge someone before we have tried to put ourselves in their shoes and feel the love that Christ has for them- what a blessing. It will require much work with the ward auxiliaries to ensure his success in this endeavor.

Happily, we had an incredible meeting with our Ward Mission Leader and Bishop this Sunday, made plans to call 7 couples as ward missionary leaders, and an activity based on missionary work for the 11th. The Bishop is soo excited. I mentioned the idea of activity including the tree of life the trails through the church until the top floor were we will have a meeting and snacks near the tree of life. There will be temptations along the way, rooms with enticing activities, but the real treasure is on the top floor. The Bishop loved the idea and we are going to include the Presidencies and have a wonderful activity. We are already thinking about the next one, focused on Family History work. There hasn't been an activity in this ward for many moons, but things are going to change and I think that the construction of the new chapel will start this month in April. 

Oh dad I have a wish from a ward member here- he is asking about some Irish hymns if you have them, could you send them to me? He helps a ton with the work here and funny enough he also  loves the song "I have a Plan" from my turn on earth and I am translating into Portuguese for him. Any info you have would be great, i would also like some good Irish music. 

I'm going to add an element into my language study that Clark suggested as I prepare for General Conference, which I am going to watch in Portuguese, listening to some conference talks on the music player that Clark gave me. THANKS CLARK! I want to be fluent in the language when I hit 1 year and I have faith that it can happen, but I have to work really hard.

Love you all, God loves us All

Oh and I love my Grandparents, too, they are super special- we are their seed you know.

Élder Anderson

A Week Full of Miracles

My family this week was full of miracles, and some set backs, but it is like Elder Utchdorf says we should be grateful in any circumstance.

My companion and I had some awesome experiences this week teaching with members. Some of the best lessons that have been taught on my mission. We had a meeting as a zone and were counseled to visit the members and strengthen them and I mentioned your Idea Clark, it worked perfectly. We are hoping to be able to prepare a women this week be baptized, but it is almost impossible to find her during the week, we will have let that work in the Lord's hands. 

One of the greatest things that happened this week was an experience we had with the Bishop helping a recent convert in a time of crisis, teaching an investigator at the same time, and afterwards teaching him and his wife and their 7 kids- it was absolutely wonderful. The Bishop is our friend. 

We also found this week a family that was suffering the loss of a brother and son to cancer. Before he died, he had been studying the Book of Mormon. 17 years before he had received some lessons from the Elders and received a Book of Mormon. The family was hungry for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and my companion and I were able to help them. What a powerful experience, we are going to visit them this week and i hope we can help them be baptized soon, because from what I understood from the dreams his sister was having he is needing the help from them to be baptized as well. 

Today my companion and I went to the Plane again and took pictures I will send some to you now. 

Love you all

Okay....Wait a Second.....it's a Boy?

Please console my doubts no one has been saying anything, but I see that picture and now I just feel weird. . . everything is good I'm still going to be an uncle?

Well, nice to talk to you all, good to see some pictures of you and my blessed family- the Gospel of Christ has so richly blessed our family has it not? Speaking of such blessings, dad could you get my priesthood line of authority from my temple bag, scan it and send an attachment to me? that would be wonderful, thank you. 

These past two weeks have been pretty sweet with the Lord putting his chosen ones in our path. we found a young man with great spiritual capacities who just wants to follow Jesus and walk in righteousness, he is kinda like one of the sons of mosiah yah know. We left him to read a bit about the story. Another man called for us while he was in a shop at work asking for a Book of Mormon and wanting to receive a visit. And there are a handful of families we are working with that could start progressing this week. The truth seekers are coming out of the wood work- perfect because we have the truest truth that is out there-truly. The Family that is progressing the most is of Course Weverton and Flavia- man they are young and firm in testimony and in a couple weeks will be baptized and married and that family will be blessed for ever if they keep keepin the commandments like they are doing, there twelve year old some Elias is preparing to be baptized too, but he has a tough time understanding things so we have to really go to his level and teach very well, the train is just starting to chug a long. We are going to baptized super woman I am pretty sure, mark a date this week for baptism, she just wants to help everyone, wants to serve a mission has 19 years and wow she is going places and the Gospel will take her there, let´s see if we can bring her mom too.

We had a ward counsel this week and I really am seeing how important it is to baptize the people who are ready and who will be a strength to the church and not another name on the less active list- it starts with us and the mission is changing with the help of the lord. 

 i love learning new things here, cooking, fixing stuff, the Brazilian way of life is soo awesome, I want to bring the culture home with me including much of the food, but we'll see what I can do there, Do you guys have a pressure pan in the states, must have one, it is just a little more dangerous, because uses steam to cook the beans and stuff, but if I don't bring one home I can do without it. 

I love the Gospel, my companion and I are learning a lot- I'm helping the Brazilians learn English. Really cool- this gospel is true and I love you

Elder Anderson

Training as District Leader

Okay so I'm training right. My companion is from Rio de Ji onero. He is the Only active member is his family besides his cousin. He doesn't like to eat his vegetables, wants to learn a lot of new things like English and piano and helps me with Portuguese. It is great to train and be District Leader.

This week my companion and I had many opportunities to teach by the Spirit and were able to find many new people, many families who are interested in the restored message we have for them. We invited people to read the Book of Mormon pray about it's truthfulness and be baptized, including members in the process, it works especially well when the investigator is a reference and we work to retain the person as a member of the church and someone we can strengthen the church.  

Saturday we made a contact with a girl in the street who had interest in an English Class and showed up in Church the next day. We had been fasting for our baptismal dates to show up in church, but the Lord put many other better opportunities in our path because of our faith. This girl has been to many churches, but wants to be baptized and is going to read the Book of Mormon to gain a testimony of it´s truthfulness. We need to work to convert these people before they are baptized, a sort of baptism of repentance. She will be a great asset to the church and has a desire to serve a mission- the spirit shines in her.

Adriana is so happy- the woman the was baptized this past two weeks ago, she is praying everyday and reading the Book of Mormon and even gave the prayer in Gospel Principles this Sunday. There wasn't a teacher present,so I gave the lesson including 4 or five investigators 3 or 4 recent converts and some less active members. I really felt guided by the Spirit during the class, including the thoughts of everyone in the class and we really learned some great things together- great opportunity.

Choir is going to start this week, we are going to make plans for a talent show. Especially after I ate lunch at a less actives house on Sunday and he played the guitar and sang for us and yah we have to have a talent show

Okay, but I have to go I love you 

I will write more next week

èlder Anderson