Esta Semana Voou!

 ​Boralá!

 ​P-Day with the staff!

 The richest missionaries here: os secretários financeiros!

 ​The office, with E. Zeballos e E. Oliva

​A bela vista do escritório. Bom dia Goiânia!

Batismo na Ala Goiânia!

                Rapaz, this week flew by!  We worked really hard, and I don`t even remember what happened…  I’ll try to remember a few parts.

                We have two investigators progressing towards baptism in two weeks!! Woohoo! We found both of them by contacting them in the road. Falar com todo mundo traz milagres—talking with everyone brings miracles! We found Marcos about a week ago and have been teaching him often. He came to church the first time yesterday and liked it a lot. He’s as excited for the 12^th as we are!  Andressa was taught a lot by the missionaries over a year ago and lost contact because she moved. She worked and was hardly ever able to come to church, but now she doesn’t and she came to church with her neighbor yesterday. Her neighbor, Anisse,  is actually a friend of a member who has already invited her to church a few times, and we’ve started teaching her also. She’ll have to get married before accepting a baptismal date, but she`s liking the lessons a lot. Andressa has a date for the 12^th also. We should have a great reunião batismal that day!

                We also had a great first lesson with Flavio this week. I was on a division Tuesday with Elder McBride, a new American in the mission, and we walked out towards the edge of the area to his house. I had spoken with him in the road a few days earlier. He understood everything we taught, and while his view of religion and salvation is slightly different—that faith is all we need—he is interested to know more about the message we bring to the world as missionaries. We had a good conversation about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  We return to his house hoje (today)!

                It’s so, so, so nice to find someone who understands very well what we're teaching. Often, we teach a good lesson about the restoration and first vision to someone and at the end we’ll ask them what they learned. Not uncommon responses are “It`s good to go to church” or “The word of God is good.” Nada ver! Haha, I guess it’s hard for people that don’t have basic doctrinal backgrounds to understand the restoration the first time. I think that’s a big problem of religion these days, especially here. The majority of churches don’t teach doctrine nor principles of the gospel, just that God is good and he’ll save us and stuff. True, but significantly lacking structure.

                Also, William, the son of Roberto whom we started teaching in my last area, was baptized this week! I was so happy, knowing that a road contact that Elder Zanuttini and I made turned into a baptism. His parents should follow his example soon! Even though we didn´t get to finish the process of teaching him, the joy was the same. This work is the best!

                Man, Brasil is great! It’s easier to speak and write Portuguese than English now. Even though I don’t have the same vocabulary or grammar, I’m so much more used to it that I really have to try when I do things in English. Tudo bem. Vou ajustar-me quando eu voltar!

                This week we have a multi-zone conference in Goiânia, and leadership meeting, and a zone conference in Anápolis. It’ll be a busy week (like every week haha) but it’ll be great! I`ll have lots of things to write about semana que vem. Esperosamente não vou esquecê-las! Keep me updated and enjoy all the American food you can for me this week! I love you all!

Elder Anderson

Trabalho Duro e….BATISMO!

 New weight set...!

Tchau E. Zanuttini!

X-Tudo!

Tchau E. Antunes! (Meu segundo LZ)

 Pedro's baptism

Esta semana foi boa! Com certeza o melhor parte foi o batismo de Pedro Henrique!

This week was good! The best part was for sure the baptism of Pedro Henrique. Only a month or two ago, his girlfriend introduced him to the church and by the time we started teaching him a week and a half ago, he pretty much knew everything. During the lesson, we just reviewed haha. I’m really grateful that we had the chance to be a part of his proves of baptism. One thing I really want to do on my mission is help baptize someone who will serve a mission too. He fulfilled that goal and hopefully will be the first of many! How awesome it’d be if everyone we found and taught was as prepared as he was!

That was definitely the highlight and best part of the week. Besides him, we didn’t have much success with the other people we found. After talking to tons of people, we ended up teaching people that just won’t keep commitments, and won’t progress. Yet, it’s all part of the process. When the Lord sees that we’ve continued working our best in spite of not finding many people, He will bless with miracles because of our effort. I’ll be patient and keep working my hardest so they’ll come!

There are a few awesome things about this area. First, there’s actually some workout equipment at this house! At all the others, I could pretty much just do push ups and abs every day. We have an awesome bar here made up of PVC, rebar (I think) and rough concrete cylinders. I use it almost every day. The fact that I’m grateful for old, homemade workout equipment show how my lifestyle has changed haha. Also, there is a great place of asai here! I’ve already eaten asai 3 times here. Man it’s great! (Sorry guys. My English is probably a pain to read by now…) Parque Amazonia is also a safer and richer part of Goiania, which is good. We ate almoso at the house of a family who is part of a huge family business. Their house is one of the very few I’ve seen here that are as good or better than houses in America –very rare!

There’s a woman from New Zealand visiting the ward who hardly speaks Portuguese. I’ve talked to her in English and discovered that now I hardly speak English, haha! It’s a struggle!

We thought we were going to be going to Patos de Minas and Uberaba with Presidente Kuceki this weekend, but because Sis. Kuceki’s car hadn’t been fixed yet, we had to postpone the plan. For just about all of March, we’ll be traveling around the mission, checking the houses, having zone and district meetings, and giving trainings. It’ll be great!

I’m still working towards my goal of reading all the scriptures this year. I’m almost done with all the books of Moses, and I’ve learned a ton. There’s a lot of things that nada ver (I don’t know how to say that in English. Probably ‘not relevant’ would describe it well.) like describing the details of the law, but I’m learning a lot about the House of Israel which has really helped me understand what the 12 tribes, Abrahamic covenant, and Levitical Priesthood actually mean, among other things. The scriptures are awesome!

I’m working hard, growing a ton spiritually (and hopefully physically), and loving this mission! The church is true! Tenham paz e alegria nos Estados Unidos!

Elder Anderson

Transfer Week

Eu e Elder Zeballos!

Thanks for the awesome chocolate Uncle Spencer!

Rapaz, escrever inglês é dificil demais!

Every day this week I’ve fallen asleep within like 30 seconds of laying down. Going from here to there and back and doing all kinds of stuff and working as hard as I can is cansativo demias! Man I’m worn out haha.

This week was transfers. As part of the mission staff, we helped with every part. Every 6 weeks missionaries are transferred to another area of the mission or stay in their area for another 6. The logistics of moving 150+ missionaries around is a huge task—the secretaries stay busy! At the beginning of the week, (can I just write in Portuguese…? Por Favor? Haha!) missionaries arrived in Goiãnia. It was way fun to see Elder Stafford, the only friend from the CTM whom I haven’t seen since we all got to Goiania. Tuesday all the ‘novinhos’—new missionaries—got here. It was cool picking them up at the airport. We had a great lunch and testimony meeting with them at Presidente’s home. You could definitely tell they hadn’t been in the mission field yet haha.

Wednesday was the actual day of transfers. In the morning, E. Zeballos (my new companion) and I gave an over two-hour training to all the district leaders, new trainers, and novinhos. I thought we might not be able to fill up the time and E. Zeballos hadn’t been there when I prepared it all, but tudo deu certo (it all went well). We had an awesome lunch at Presdient Kuceki’s house again but this time with all the missionaries that were finishing their missions, including Elder Zanuttini. The contrast between them and the novinhos was huge and was really cool to see. The mission really transforms people.

Thursday morning we woke up at 3:45 to go to the airport with all the leaving missionaries. That was a tiring day. E. Zanuttini, E. Sanchez and two sisters almost missed their plane hahaha. They had already closed the door, but they got there just in time! I sense that many missionaries think that getting on the plane to return home at the end of the mission is like a huge magical thing. Nope. It’s just getting on a plane, haha!

We got to Parque Amazonia Thursday too. It’s great here! One of the richest areas of Goiãnia. One of the strongest wards here also. I haven’t heard anything negative about it. We already have a baptsim for this week, Pedro Henrique. He’s 17, way excited, and wants to serve a mission! So awesome. His girlfriend introduced him to the church a month ago, and he already knows everything we’re teaching. We’re pretty much just reviewing the lessons for him haha. We’re going to find a ton more people also! Missionary work is the best!

E. Zeballos, the new assistant, is from Chile! He has six months left here and was serving as branch president in Catalão. If you want to see his dad, open up the conference Ensign magazine to the middle and look of the last row of the Seventy. Way cool! Haha, we’re both way excited to work here and lead the mission in building the kingdom of God!

I’ll take some good pictures of the area this week so you can all see what it’s like. Brazil is awesome! I’m loving the gospel of Jesus Christ more then ever. I wish I could study the scriptures 3 hours every day, but it’s even more important to bring the message of the restored gospel to the people here! This week I got a package from Uncle Spencer—a huge box of chocolate. IT WAS AWESOME. Comi tudo ja! Thanks to all of you, my family and friends, for your constant love and support. Ate mais!

Elder Anderson

And Now Parque Amazonia

 Elder Stafford! Good friend from my district in the CTM. I hadn't seen him since we arrived in the mission!

 Above and below are some great pictures from lunch the other day. Beautiful view!

Sim! I’m actually going to Parque Amazonia this time haha. I’m excited! I’ve only heard good things about the area. Also, it’s a lot safer there. I like that! I’m tired of getting robbed. This week I was on an exchange with E. Sweet, the financial secretary, and E. Zanuttini and E. Olicia, who were on the other side of the area, were assaulted. It made me mad. Anyway, the area around our house is pretty dangerous, so E. Zanuttini and I just packed everything up and moved to the house of the secretaries. I’ll stay here until the transfers end and then go to Parque Amazonia. We’ve been walking all together (the 4 secretaries and us) at night to be safer haha. I also found out who my new companion will be! I’ll save that as a surprise for next week though.

This week we got ready for the transfers. Friday we called all the missionaries who were transferred. It took a long time but was fun. It’s cool knowing where everybody is going ahead of time, being on the administrative side is a whole different experience! President Kuceki took the whole staff to Pizza Hut for lunch which was awesome! Every opportunity to eat American food is a huge blessing.

This Wednesday we’re going to have a training for all the new trainers and all the district leaders. This week I’ve been preparing for it. The focus of our part of the meeting is the importance of the ‘Preach My Gospel’ manual. As missionaries, everything we need to best fulfill our calling is found in the principles of Preach My Gospel. I remember when Elder Costa came to the CTM and spoke to us. One of the biggest things he said was that if we followed the principles of PMG, we could baptize every week. Overall, I think the missionaries here need to improve how much they study and apply what PMG teaches. Hopefully the training will inspire them to do so.

This transfer flew by, and I’m grateful for the short 6 weeks I had here in the Goiãnia Ward. While we only had one baptism, I think we did good work here. Pedro is doing well. While we used to pick him up every Sunday, he came to church on his own yesterday, on his new bike. Dusilene and José Neto are doing great. They’re coming to church every Sunday and hopefully will both accept baptism soon. The investigators we bad will now be taught by the secretaries, since no one is taking the place of E. Zanuttini and I. They’re all great missionaries and will continue to teach them well. President K. said that if they find a better house for us here, we’ll probably move back to the Goiania ward the next transfer. I’d like to, as this is the most involved ward I’ve been in yet!

This week I finished reading ‘Our Search for Happiness’ by M. Russell Ballard. Man it’s a great book! It so clearly and simply explains the beliefs of our church-a valuable tool for missionaries and members alike. If you’re reading this right now, read this book! It will answer your questions about basic Mormon belief and our great and eternal search for happiness.

I’m so grateful for this knowledge of God’s Plan of Salvation; it is such a source of peace to know where we came from, why we’re here, and where we’re going after this Earthly life. I’m so grateful for the scriptures and the words of the ancient and modern prophets—direct guidance during our mortal journey. This gospel and this church are true! This mission is the best! Jesus Christ is our Savior!

Elder Anderson

RIO VERDE!

Pedro's baptism last week 

​Lago das Rosas, downtown Goiânia

Goiânia

Antes de sair de Rio Verde!

The Assistants with Elder Costa and Sister Kuceki (holding her son)

Até mais Rio Verde!

Esta semana foi TOP demais! On the bus ride back to Goiãnia yesterday, I wrote 5 pages in my journal about the trip. I thought about just sending that as my weekly letter, but then I realized I wrote it all in Portuguese… Haha, I’ll try my best to sum it up in English! (note from Scott’s mom: He handwrites his weekly letters and takes pictures of them, then sends me the pictures…I type them up and post them)

Quarta-feira (Wednesday) we went to the roto-viária and got on the bus to Rio Verde, about 3.5-4 hours away. The first half of the ride I just read and studied the scriptures—one of my favorite things to do now! I got some nice rest the second half. We arrived and went to the house of the zone leaders of Rio Verde Centro. We went on exchanges with them for the rest of the day. I was with E. Whiting who is from Illinois and has one more transfer than me in the mission. We made a bunch of contacts and taught a few lessons.

It was nice to experience a little bit of another city. I’m now familiar with São Paulo, Goiãnia, Uberlãndia, and Rio Verde. Rio Verde is pretty small, about 1/5 the size of Goiãnia, and is more like I thought Brazil would be—with more mata, or forest/nature areas. To get to the area where we worked, E. Whiting and I walked down a road that crossed over a stream and had a bunch of cool plants and palm trees. I took a few pictures with my phone (I don’t like bringing my camera with me because, well, I think that’s clear now) that I’ll try to upload and send by next week. It was a pretty calm and laid  back are which was a nice contrast from working in the center of Goiania. While the city’s name means ‘Green River’ I never saw a river….

The next day we did the same exchange and left and went to the other side of Rio Verde, with the zone leaders of Rio Verde Popular. We went on exchanges for two days there. I was with E. Romero from Paraguay. We didn’t teach a whole lot, mostly just talked with people in the road, so the days felt pretty long,  haha.

The first day in Popular was awesome because I met and talked with Mauro, a recent convert of Elder Romero. He had been a strong leader in the Christian Congregation  in Brasil (a widespread church here with fanatic members…) for 30 years and was the leader of the church in 7 cities. After 3 years of depression and feeling lost he stopped to talk with E. Romero and his companion in the road. They started teaching him, and after six weeks of profound lessons he and  his wife were baptized and all the anxiety and despair he had felt for so long went instantly away. Because of his extensive experience in his other church, he knows the Bible expertly and uses it like no one I’ve seen before to explain and support the principles of the restored gospel. Hearing his testimony of Joseph Smith, the true church, and especially Jesus Christ was inspiring, and I will do all I can to find more people like him to bring to the restored true church of Jesus Christ. Listening to him for an hour that day was the best part of the trip, along with the…

FIRST CONFERENCE OF THE RIO VERDE STAKE! Oh man it was awesome! Elder Costa of the Seventy came to call the new stake president—PRESIDENT ANDERSON! I remembered you, Dad! In addition to having a great name, he gave a great talk, and so did President and Sister Kuceki, Elder Dias—an area seventy, and a few other leaders. For sure though, my favorite talk was Elder Costa’s! I already heard him talk when he came to the CTM, but this time I understood him haha. He talked about the stake, not becoming addicted to technology, the importance of celestial marriage relationships, and his testimony of President Monson as our Prophet today. It was a great, funny, and instructive talk and I took a ton of notes. Afterwards, E. Zanuttini talked to him and got a picture with him (which Sis. Kuceki has on her phone…maybe it’ll be put on the mission’s facebook page). It was so awesome to hear and learn from great leaders of the church chosen by the Lord, in Rio Verde this weekend!

We only have a week and a half left in this transfer, and it has flown by! I may or may not know if I’m going to be transferred and where to, but I’ll keep that as a surprise for next week J. It’ll be crazy to get my 5^th companion in 5 transfers and sad to see E. Zanuttini return home, but it’ll be great! As always, I’m grateful and excited!

Clearly my English is deteriorating, but hopefully you guys will understand this all just fine and have an awesome, blessed week wherever you may be!

Elder Anderson

Batismo! E Muitos Peixes (Baptism! And Many Fish)

Selfie at the Lan House (where we go to email each week)

Missionaries serving in our district (Distrito Jardim America)

Mais uma semana chei de bênsãos, apredndizagem, e experiências maravilhosas! We baptized and confirmed Pedro! Every day this week we taught him and helped him prepare. We had a funny moment while teaching the ten commandments. Reading from Exodus, we said “Não matarás.” (Thou shalt not kill.) Then he said, “Já matei” The room got quiet. ‘Ja matei’ means ‘I’ve already killed.’ Elder Zanuttini and I started getting nervous and thinking ‘who are we teaching?!’ Then Pedro said “Muitos peixes!” Hahahahaha-lots of fish! We breathed again hahaha. He was really excited for his baptism and to begin a new life.

Dusilene wasn’t baptized because she didn’t stop drinking coffee in time :/ . BUT, she’s stopped now and is ready for her baptism this Saturday! We’ve been teaching her almost every day and her son most days too, and every time we visit she makes a ton of food for us. Haha, it’s great! Also we hardly found Helin and Nilva, the parents of the less-active family, at home this week, but we’ll try to keep working with them so their kids can be baptized soon too.

Wednesday was cool. All the missionaries in Goiãnia got together to watch a broadcast from Salt Lake to all the missions in the world. It was focused on Teaching Repentance and Baptizing converts. Hearing from apostles and leaders of the missionary department was instructive and edifying and I learned a lot. It was great seeing some old friends and companions also!

Tuesday, all the secretaries, Elder Xauttini, and I went to Outback Steakhouse with President and Sister Kuceki to celebrate Presidente’s birthday. IT WAS SO GOOD To HAVE AMERICAN FOOD! Oh man, it was the best steak, potato, chicken, and fried onions I’ve had in 6 months. A huge blessing haha!

Oh yeah, a few weeks ago I got bit by a dog. It was a little tiny dog that bit my thumb and it was funny haha.

We didn’t get robbed this week! Many prayers of gratitude reached os céus from Elder Anderson.

Also, I think I forgot to say this a while ago, but—I met my goal of 1000 contacts before Christmas! (Dec.1-24) It was tough, but I worked hard and made it. When we set difficult goals and do everything we can to achieve them, the Lord helps us, we achieve them, and we are blessed with spiritual and temporal growth.

Something really cool—we ate almoso (lunch) with a sister in the ward who lived in Atlanta for 3 years! She was in the Glenridge Ward and went to the Atlanta temple a bunch. It was fun talking to her about it! When Brazilians go to the USA, the city they most commonly go to is Atlanta. I’ve talked to a few who have lived in Marietta, Sandy Springs, and other areas. I never knew before my mission, but Atlanta has a huge Brazilian population. When I get back I’m going to drive up there, find an area of Brazilians, and speak Portuguese all day haha.

In two days we go to Rio Verde to go on exchanges with the zone leaders and be there for the organization and first stake conference of the Rio Verde Stake! It’s been a district for almost 30 years and will become a stake this weekend. I’m excited to be there! It’ll be a good week. Até mais América! Tchau!

Elder Anderson  

Burning a Tie

Burning the tie

 

Haircut by E. Zanuttini

  

Eating healthy (Avocados in America are way better)

Estamos na dentista

Respecting missionary tradition, I burned a tie on Friday to celebrate 6 months in the mission, Rapaz, esta missao ta voando! Man it’s been a great half of a year. Living in Brazil, learning Portuguese, and teaching the restored gospel have definitely made this the most eventful and exciting 6 months of my life! It’s crazy how fast it’s going! Thankfully, I didn’t burn the house down.

Last week I was feeling sick. The beginning of this week was even worse. Tuesday I could hardly make it walking around, and that night Elder Zanuttini dropped me off at a members’ house and visited all our appointments with Pedro, who leaves for his mission in just over a week. We’ve been teaching a lot with him lately; he’ll be a great missionary in Sao Paulo North. I just slept as soon as I laid down and two and a half hours later, they returned, we went home, and I went to sleep. I started getting better after that day—the extra rest was a blessing—and now I’m 100%. I’m so grateful to be feeling and working normally again!

The road leading up to where we live is really dark and empty. It was only a matter of time, before two guys on a motorcycle drove up out of the dark and assaulted us. Saturday night that happened. We were just about to enter the darkest part of the road when a single headlight lit up and sped towards us. I already knew what it was. I put my hands up automatically—it’s habit now—while E. Zanuttini took off running. I thought about doing the same but just stayed put. Patted me down, found my phone, took it out of my pocket as I tried to just give them my money ($10 only), ended up taking my whole bag, and left. Ran down through the dark part of the road, around the corner, and found E. Zanuttini there hiding with some of our nearby neighbors. Crazy stuff.

I don’t like getting robbed. In my bag I had a Book of Mormon (they can learn about the gospel and not stealing, woohoo!), pamphlets for teaching, Our Search of Happiness (which I just started reading), my Portuguese-English dictionary, Portuguese verb card, missionary handbook, mission debit card, health card, and 10 reais. Thankfully it’s all replaceable. Also a huge blessing is that I forgot my umbrella at lunch and so it wasn’t in my bag! It’s really important right now since it’s raining almost every day. Don’t get robbed, but if you do, be grateful!

Now, I’ve had 3 baptisms and 3 assaults here. However, those numbers should never be the same again. We’re probably going to move to a safer house soon, and we’re preparing a big reuniao baptismal (don’t know the best way to say that in English) for next Saturday!

We should have 4 baptisms dia 23! Pedro, whom we found in front of his house a week or two ago, was praying for guidance from God only a few minutes before we talked to him and taught him the first lesson. He likes church, stopped smoking in 3 days, and is excited for his baptism! Two weeks ago I made a road contact with Jose Neto. The next day we visited and taught him and his mom, Ducelene. They came to church the next day and felt a sense of peace there that they said they had never felt in another church. We’ve been teaching them frequently with members and Ducelene will be baptized Saturday! Jose Neto should be soon too; we can’t teach him as much because he works late. Also, yesterday we visited a less-active family with two daughters old enough, ready and excited to be baptized Saturday as well! We have a lot of work to do to prepare all of this and so it’ll be a good, busy week!

I’m so glad I have another year and a half to serve here in Brasil. It’s dangerous and busy and awesome! I do, however, miss America—especially lately good American food! With new responsibilities, I have even less time to email you all than before, and while my replies are short, I appreciate every one of your emails! Thank you all for being great group of support from the USA! Tenha uma boa semana! Tchau!

Elder Anderson 

Pictures that the mission posted which include Scott (who is the new assistant to President Kuceki)

 Elder Zanuttini, The Kuceki's with their youngest son, Scott (the new AP!)

 This was right after the moment Scott (Elder Anderson) was introduced to a new incoming group of missionaries as the new assistant (which was how Scott learned about it as well!...Surprise!)

 Some fun pics of the newly arrived missionaries and with the Kuceki's and the AP's (there are 2 assistants in the mission and Scott is one of them)

 President Kuceki and his assisants. Scott really looks up to this great man!

Another Big Week

Eu e Elder Zanuttini, at the predio of the mission home

​Eu e Elder Banz, amigos desde o CTM!
(Me and Elder Banz, friends since the CTM--Missionary Training Center. Elder Banz played golf for BYU before his mission)

What a week! Adjusting to my new responsibilities, preparing for and giving a training in our leadership meeting, and being sick all contributed to a tiring but profitable week. Right now I’m pretty worn out, but as always, I’m happy and grateful to be here doing the greatest work there is!

The biggest part of the week was the leadership meeting. After praying and seeking inspiration, Elder Zanuttini and I thought we should talk about faith for our training. At a members house a day or two later we were talking to a returned sister missionary about the training and she had a great book about the role of faith and mental effort in obtaining heaven’s help to fulfill our righteous desires and goals. She gave us an outline, on which we based our training. The focus was “A Mente” –the mind and how with strong faith and pure, positive thoughts we will receive in a much greater measure the Lord’s help in our work. We spent most of Tuesday putting together our power point and organizing a role play about how our thoughts affect our work as missionaries. Wednesday morning, with all the zone leaders, sister training leaders, Pres. Sousa (1st counselor of the mission), and Pres. Kuceki, we presented the training. It went great! I believe it was exactly what the mission needed and everyone learned a lot. I really liked delivering the training, and I’m grateful I’ll have the opportunity to lead many more. The main thing I learned throughout it all is that our mind is powerful. Everything starts with our thoughts. Thus, if we learn to control our thoughts, we can control everything! Almost haha. I’ve already improved a lot on being conscious about what I think during the day and making sure it’s all faith-filled and positive. The results – the miracles—are and will be coming!

Life is busy man. I’ve thought about what the equivalent of what I’m doing right now would be in work hours per week, but it doesn’t even compare. Every hour and minutes is focused on the work. I frequesntly dream about it too. I think it’s safe to say I work 168 hours a week, with a salary of heacenly blessings and a Christ-like life. Nothing could be better!

Portuguese is going great! Saturday night I spoke Portuguese in my dream hahaha. Also, before my mission, I thought there would be a day where I would feel like ‘I got it’ with the language—not a day when I would be completely fluent or speak without an accent, but when I would feel comfortable and used to Portuguese and using it all the time. I think that was yesterday! Portuguese now is so natural that speaking and writing English is a challenge haha. I’m so grateful I have the chance to learn another language. It’s lfe changing and awesome.

For about a week now, I haven’t been feeling good. I went to the hospital Saturday and after waiting two hours they took some tests and we picked up the results that night. Turns out I have tengue and a week to life—hahaha, they said it’s probably some type of virus, and I need to eat more greens. I think it’s clearing up, but I’ll be sure to buy some good vegetables today. I’m grateful for the blessing Elder Sweet (financial secretary) gave me before I went to the hospital, saying that this would not interfere with our work. It gave me a lot of peace because I was pretty worried about wasting hours in the ER instead of working and visiting all our investigators. It was the same hospital I went to with Elder Meireles my first transfer, only it didn’t appear so shockingly run down or inadequate this time because I’m accustomed to Brazil no haha. Brasil is great!

It was a good, busy week and I’m ready for more like it (except for the sick part)! President Kuceki said in the leadership meeting, by divine inspiration, that there are 500 eleitos (elects—people prepared and ready for the gospel and baptism) in every area. E. Zanuttini and I are working hard to find as many as possible! This mission is the best! Though it’s way hard, it’s even more rewarding and I’m thankful for every day!

Almost forgot—this year I set a goal to read the entire standard works! (That means the Old and New Testament, The Book of Mormon, The Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants) I’m trying to read 7 pages a day and I’ve almost finished Genesis. I’ve never loved the scriptures or this gospel more! Have a blessed week.

Elder Anderson

A Really Big Week

Happy New Year's Eve from the Assistants and Secretaries!

​Elder Zanuttini and I

​Early morning hot chocolate before transfers!

Feliz ano novo para voces! I will spend 2016 completely outside the U.S. Wow. It’ll be great!

I think this is a good week to go day by day.

Segunda-feira (Monday) – We had our last study time in Tibery, and afterwards went to the center of Uberlandia to the Lan House to email. It was awesome seeing tons of Christmas pictures, especially of Bryce! J Afterwards we cleaned the house, visited Wilson, a great recent convert of the other companionship, and went to a noite familiar (family home evening) with him at the apartment of Manoel e Vanessa Foibom.

Tersa-feira (Tuesday) – This day was big. Elder Baltazar and I finished packing up our stuff and got on the bus to Goiania. It was about a 6 hour ride, which wasn’t bad. It was nice to get some rest and talk with other missionaries. As soon as we got to Goiania, Elder Santos, the executive secretary, told me we had a meeting to go to. While another secretary took care of my bags, we went quick and got a taxi. Instead of going to the mission office, we went straight to the mission home. Elder Zanuttini, one of the assistants to the President, was there waiting for me. In the elevator, I asked who was there and what kind of meeting it was. I thought it would be a meeting for all the trainers, since I would be training again. He said all the novinhos were there (new missionaries) but I was the only trainer there. I didn’t have time to think about what was going on before I walked in, greeted Presidente and Sister Kuceki, and entered shock as Presidente said to all the new missionaries “Aqui e o novo assistente da missao!” (Here is the new assistant of the mission.) I was so surprised haha. It turns out that E. Tenorio, the assistant that just finished his mission, completely made up that I would be training in Porque Amazonia haha. After dinner at the mission home, E. Zanuttini and I helped all the novinhos get to their hotel. I had no idea I would be serving as the new assistant, and man, I don’t even speak Portuguese right yet-haha, but I know it’s where the Lord needs me, and I will do my best.

Quarta feira (Wednesday) – Transfer day. Instead of meeting my new companion and going to Parque Amazonia, I helped everyone get to where they were supposed to be. It was different being on the other, more administrative side of the transfer, but I liked it. We ate lunch with the secretaries of the mission, Elders Olica, Sweet, Correa, e Bandeira, and eventually got to our area. We visited members with the ward mission leader. Afterwards, walking back to our new house, we got lost haha. It’s tough when two missionaries get to a new area at the same time. Eventually we made it home and to sleep.

Quinta-feira a Sabado (Thursday – Saturday) – Being that E. Zanuttini and I are both new here in Ala Goiania, we visited most of the investigators that the sisters had, and talked to tons of people, trying to find people ready for the message of the restoration. We followed up a lot with the zones and branches of the mission, ensuring that everyone has good goals and plans in place. Elder Zanuttini is from Argentina, and this is the last transfer of his mission. Though it’s only been a few days, I’ve learned a lot from him and we’re already great friends. We’re going to get a lot of work done here, and I’m excited!

Domingo (Sunday) – Church went well. It was good to meet lots of ward members and hear their testimonies. We brought one couple that we found this week, and they seemed to like it and want to return. We had a good meeting with Odrei, the ward mission leader, in the evening and afterwards visited some members.

Overall, it was a great week, with lots of changes. This is a really good ward – I haven’t seen members so willing and excited to help us before. I’m grateful for this new responsibility to lead and serve and especially for the opportunity to work closely with President Kuceki. This mission is the best and I’m loving it every day! Hope all is well and everyone’s having a great 2016 in the USA!

Elder Anderson

Melting the Freezer with an Iron!