Agua dos Ceus

 Got a letter from cousin Marissa!

 Knowing this "milk" won't go bad until December is not entirely comforting

 Before church with E. Lisboa! He was on an exchange here

 Suave na nave!

 It's raining!

 Jesus, o Cristo—Jesus the Christ

I found peanut butter! But it's expensive demais...

Whoa! It actually rained this week. It had been over 3 months since water had fallen from heaven down to Goiania until it rained yesterday. We got soaked walking to district meeting. It was awesome because the rest of the day was cloudy and cool—really rare for Goiania!

I heard the USA is winning everything in Rio. Bom demias! That makes me happy. USA! USA! USA! This reminds me: the way ‘Rio de Janeiro’ is pronounced by Americans is really different from how it’s said in Brasil. Here, the R at the beginning of a word sounds like H, D followed by E usually sounds like the letter G, and J is a little bit softer. Thus, ‘Rio de Janeiro’ sounds as if it was “Heeoh G Jhaniero’ when spoken phonetically correct in Portuguese. Legal, ne?

Right now I’m in a taxi going to the rodovianria (bus station terminal) of Goiania. We’re going to buy tickets (is that the best word?) for some missionaries who need to travel for medical purposes. (Alright, we got here and now we’re actually buying them.) Serving in the office, it’s tough having a nice, predictable schedule—impossible almost –because of all the urgent things that we have to resolve, but the experience I’m obtaining is great. When I grow up life won’t be any more predictable or easy! I say ‘when I grow up’, but I’m 19 and living on the other side of the equator speaking Portuguese. Even so I still feel like a kid hahaha.

What I most want to strengthen on my mission is my testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I’ve started focusing my personal study on Him, the greatest topic of all, using Book of Mormon references from Preach My Gospel and ‘Jesus the Christ’ by James Talmadge. I’m reading ‘Jesus the Christ’ in Portuguese, using the English edition as reference—muito legal! The life of the Savior was amazing! Certainly the manner in which He taught and ministered is incomparable. His parables were literary marvels and explained great doctrines so that everyone could understand them on his or her own level of understanding. His teaching was academically and spiritually perfect, and as His missionary I hope to develop my teaching to help people change their lives, as He did.

This morning I studied 1 Nephi 19. Here Nephi prophesies about the suffering and judgement that Jesus would willingly pass through because of His love for us. I can’t fully imagine how it was, yet I’m so grateful for the infinite love the Savior showed as He fulfilled the will of the Father for our sake.

Sunday I was informed I would give a 5 minute talk 5 minutes before I had to give it. I tried to think quickly and decided to talk about how much God loves us, using Mosiah 2:20-22 (I love this scripture—I invite all of you to look it up and read it right now!), John 3:16 and Grandpa Anderson’s story about how the newly paved road caved in under his car and how the Lord completely protected him while his car was destroyed. It went well! I like giving talks.

There’s a member here that works at the best churrascaria (Brazillian bargeque restaurant) in Goiana. He said that a few weeks ago Neymar and other players from Brasil’s national team went there. THAT’S SO COOL! Hahaha, Brasil is great.

I’m way excited to get to the Lan House and read your emails! Oh, thanks cousin Marissa for your letter! I got it this week. I also received Rose’s wedding invitation from the Wildings. Thanks a ton! I love letters from you all! Wishing a great week to everyone from Goiania to the world,

Elder Anderson