Elder Scott Anderson's Mission Blog: The Beginning of the End

JOSÉ CARLOS WAS BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! President Bührer interviewed him and called me right after the interview to tell me that he would be baptized to following day. I received lots of pictures of the baptism from José Carlos and a letter in which he told me all about it. Even though I was transferred well before he was baptized, my joy is the same. I can't fully express how grateful I am to have known and taught him and helped him discover and follow the truth. He will surely be an eternal friend of mine! He sent me a birthday package which I got this week. It contained a bunch of chocolate and a jersey of Cruzeiro, a soccer team from Minas Gerais. After a long while living in Brasil, now I've decided which is my team hahaha. CRUZEIRO!

This is the first week of my last transfer. It’s crazy to think that in 6 weeks I won’t be organizing the logistics of the transfers within our zone or packing my bags and taking a bus to a new area. All this will have ended and I’ll be back in the USA. I’ always knew the end would come, but it still seems a little sudden. I’m so happy to be able to look back at my nearly complete mission and know that I tried my best to fulfill my calling and serve the Lord. I will continue to work as well as I can so I can enjoy this same peaceful feeling of accomplishment, to a greater degree, when I come home.

Elder Tanus and I had an excellent meeting with the stake president of Anápolis this week in which we talked about missionary work in the stake and planned to do a fireside next month about the Book of Mormon (an idea I've thought about for a while). It's marked to be on the last Sunday of my mission! He's also going to fast with us this Sunday for us to baptize two families soon! I thought about how Dad is fulfilling the same calling in our stake and how grateful I am for his example.

On Tuesday the whole zone went to Goiania for a special meeting with Sister Cordon, the first counselor in the Primary Presidency! It was awesome! I’ve been blessed to meet and learn from several great leaders of the church while on my mission, (in addition to two excellent mission presidents): Elder Costa (twice!), Elder Aidukatis, Elder Bassett, some area seventies, and now, Sister Cordon. After her husband transmitted an inspiring message, she gave us a dynamic training that involved some creative and fun examples. She talked about how faith is a principle of proactivity, complete confidence in God, and miracles, how as missionaries we need to have FOGO NOS OSSOS (FIRE IN THE BONES), how we fully focus on the work when we use all our heart, might, mind, and strength, and how the great miracle is our personal conversion—becoming like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Excelente!

Elder Tanus and I were back in Goiania on Thursday for the monthly leadership meeting. Time flies so much between leadership meetings that it feels like we have on every week. Inda bem—ama estas reunaios! President Buhrere spoke about agency and how we are constantly being enticed by good and by evil. Which side are we on? He briefly referenced it to the opposing sides of the force in Star Wars, hahaha. The second part of the meeting was about using time wisely, from chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel. Wow! I was inspired to manage better the precious gift of time that I have—especially time on the mission because it’s almost out!

I have been really, really blessed with great mission presidents.

The day after the leadership meeting, Elder Tanus and I put into practice what we learned and had a great weekly planning session—the best on my mission, I think.

Another part of the meeting was the transfer. President hadn’t completely finished it but told us just about all of the changes. When he said that we would stay in Anapolis I got way excited!! Flamboyant is a great area, E. Tanus is a great companion, and we’re teaching a special family and have faith that we will have lots of success in this transfer. I’m happy that I’ll finish my mission here!

We hope to mark a baptismal date with Josy, the woman whose son passed away recently, and some members of her family this week. We’re going to have a powerful lesson tomorrow about eternal families, temples, and baptisms for the dead. I’m excited and hope that it goes well. Being guided by the Holy Ghost, I’m sure it will! We’ve developed a good friendship with their family and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help them.

One afternoon we were walking to another area for a baptismal interview (it was the 3^rd interview I’ve done on my mission—he passed and was really excited!). We passed in front of a members’ home to stop and ask for water real quick. We entered and she said “Elders, you came at the right time!” She was needing to move the stone top of a kitchen table and had actually thought just a minute or two before “It would be nice if the Elders passed here right now”. Haha, it was a cool little experience.

HAHAHA- Elder Tanus and I laughed a lot this week and one of the reasons was the following: We were at a bus stop and there was a homeless guy washing his clothes in a fountain in the park behind the bus stop. E. Tanus felt pity for the guy and bought a Popsicle from a man selling them next to us and went and gave it to the guy washing his clothes. Not 20 minutes later the homeless guy went and bought another Popsicle for himself and we saw that he had almost more money than we did, hahaha! We had a good laugh.

Family, I miss you guys so much. My love for you all has multiplied on my mission. I didn’t know how special you were to me until I came to the other side of the world and haven’t been able to see you all for a long time. Mom and Dad, Dallin, Tyler, Heidi, Natalie, Katie, and Bryce, I love you and can’t wait to see you next month (except Dallin, that’ll take a bit longer). I pray for each one of you by name every day. I’m excited to speak with you all on Mother’s Day and plan what we’ll do when I get home!

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. I’m loving my time here, and I’m preparing myself for a big transition to a new phase of life that will begin soon.

Elder Anderson