A Great Christmas & Transferred Again

Christmas Eve

​Christmas Morning! Muitos presentes

The finished Christmas tree

Almoço de Natal!

Skyping and Eating and Natal​

Último almoço com Alex

​Last day all together: The members and missionaries of Apartment Block A

Christmas was my favorite day of the mission so far! It was so awesome to skype home! Dad, mom, Dallin, Tyler, Heidi, Natalie, Katie, and Bryce—it was so fun to talk to you and I love you all so much! Grandpa and Grandma West I’m so glad you guys were there so I could talk to you too! Man, hearing your voices and listening to everything that’s been going on at home was bom demais! It was definitely the fastest 40 minutes of my mission so far. I can’t wait to skype again on Mother’s Day haha!

The other parts of Christmas were great too. Though I had already opened up most of my presents, opening the rest of them was fun. Thanks to the family for their presents and to the ward Relief Society too. There was no shortage of things to unwrap this year! I guess Santa knows how hard I’ve been working haha. During the morning we studied like normal, then we made some contacts in the road, and went to almoco (lunch). After a big Christmas lunch we came back, visited Wilson and Mariellen and went to skype. We went to the house of a family in another ward—probably one of the nicest houses I’ve been in here (they had AC in one room—whoa!). We skyped and ate a ton and came back home and that was Christmas.

Also at their house, everyone started getting calls about transfers. Elder Baltazar and I didn’t get a call, but we knew from the other transfers that we were leaving too. Saturday night we finally found out where we are going. I’m going to train another Brazilian coming out of the CTM in area Parque Amazonia 3, in Goiania. Elder Baltazar’s going to Goiania too, but another zone.

I’m really excited to train another novinho! I liked training this transfer. I learned a lot and think I was able to help E. Baltazr adjust to the mission well. Also, I’ve heard the Parque Amazonia is an awesome area! It’s crazy that there will be three companionships there; I’m excited to arrive and get to work!

Tibery was a good area. Though I was only here one transfer, I felt like I helped the area and worked my best. One crazy thing is that all 4 of the elders that were here are leaving. E. Olsen is going home and E. Sanchez is going to be in my zone. A companionship of sisters is coming here and will cover the two areas (within the same ward) that the four of us did. We’re preparing everything as well as we can so they can arrive and get straight to work too. Also here, I learned a lot from the Bishop, grew way more confident talking to people, got a ton better at Portuguese, and improved my teaching and organization. It was a great area and a great transfer. Now I get to return to the heat of Goiania haha.

Well everybody, mission life is great! I’m well adjusted and comfortable and ready to continue learning. I’m grateful for all the experiences I’m having here, even the crazy ones (like a group of drunk guys stopping us on the road, getting on their knees and pretending to worship us, and making us say a prayer for them before we walked away, yesterday; or seeing drug deals in the road or fights on the bus: because they make great stories hahaha). Yet I’m more thankful still for the miracles and blessings we see more often than all the crazy stuff. This mission and gospel are the best!

Elder Anderson