Week 79!

Family and Friends,

This week we were blessed with the baptism of Taynan! He had lost interest in the Gospel of Jesus Christ but with the help of a friend from Church, God, and my companion and I, he decided to be baptized! After his baptism, he thanked us for not giving up on him. It was an incredible experience! The Book of Mormon has changed his life and given him a new hope, faith, and purpose in life. I'm grateful to have taught him. His friend Robervanderson baptized him. It was really neat.

The Spirit is real, prayer works, God lives and loves us!

Love you all!

--

- Elder Anderson

Week 78!

Family and Friends,

This past week we taught Estefano. We found his name in the area book, and he came to church this Sunday! He's a funny guy and we met his girlfriend as well, she is likewise interested in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We met and taught William this week. We met him at a  very difficult time is his life and he loved learning about our message. If he hadn't have moved back home this week, I think he would have been baptized. The Gospel and the Book of Mormon change lives. I know they do. We just have to study it, love it, and live it.

I maxed on Push Ups this week and did 85 in 2 Minutes! My max has gone up by 10 in the last months.

We worked a ton this week, talked to 118 new people, and marked to return and teach 18 of them! 

Taynan recently decided to stop learning about the Church of Jesus Christ, we will return there again this week and talk to him more. God gives us the chance to choose what we want and we are all free to choose, work for, and receive what we decide to. 2 Nephi 2:27.

Love you all!

--

- Elder Anderson

Pics: "This is Brazil" - Fast and Furious 5, D&C 4:2, William (on the right, his friend on the left), and P-Day with some other Elders!

Week 77!

Family and Friends,

My new companion is Elder Navarro! He's a Brazilian from Curitiba and played american football in Brazil before coming to the mission. We've been working hard and teaching a lot!

I had an incredible experience with the Spirit this week that I think saved our lives. We were going to an appointment and when we were about to cross a road, I had a prompting to skip our first appointment and go straight to the second (We were running a little late). I stopped for a second, thought, and decided against it. We started crossing the road to our first appointment and as we crossed the road, a car turned from the adjacent highway into the road we were crossing with no turning signal. The driver was going really fast and almost hit us. We then crossed the road and nothing bad happened. Looking back, I realized that the prompting wasn't for me to follow, but for me to listen and consider. In the end, listening to the prompting probably saved both of our lives!

Taynan is progressing really well! We have taught about baptism and he is preparing for it! The Book of Mormon is true and makes a difference in the lives of those who read it and follow its teachings.

Love you all!

Elder Anderson

Pics:

View from our house, the district, Elder Navarro and I, Taynan (shirtless) and his friend!

Week 76!

Family and Friends,

We have transfers this week! Elder Costa will be transferred to Hortolandia, a nearby city, and I will stay here and train a new Elder! I'm excited for it, it'll be my third time training.

We've been teaching Taynan (I have recently called him Claudio but he prefers Taynan haha) a lot recently! We had a special lesson this past Saturday focused on Alma 34, the atonement, faith, and repentance. It was really great. He is feeling the positive difference that the Book of Mormon is making in his life.

We had a brazilian barbecue this Saturday night with the four Elders of the house and two RM's in the ward. It was super good. Grandpa West makes some great BBQ but I'll still miss the BBQ from Brazil.

I now have one year and 5 months on my mission, I will likely have just four more transfers (6-week period of the mission) on my mission. Time is flying by and I will finish strong!

Love you all!

Elder Anderson