Oi everyone!
I hope all is well back in the States! It was an adventure
getting to the lan house we email from today. It´s been POURING rain all
morning and so we had to wade through ankle-high water, and dodge the waves that the
buses make as they pass by haha. I am really grateful for my rubber crocs right
now.
This week was a little more of a struggle, but still really
good. Monday, we were going to have a lesson with a man that the Patriarch of
our ward gave to us as a reference. So we went to the home with the Patriarch
but when we got there, the reference, Domingos, had to leave, but said we could
teach his parents instead. His parents are super old and his dad pretty much
just talked the whole lesson and kept trying to speak to me in English, so it
was a little bit of a struggle haha. And then as we were leaving he went up to
Sister Juarez and said "a hug for the Mexican" and then proceeded to
grab her and kiss her forehead hahaha. And then afterwards he came for me and I
tried to resist by sticking my arms out, but I eventually just had to give in
and let him kiss my forehead haha. It was pretty funny.
So this Wednesday me and all the other new missionaries got
to have training with President Bigelow and it was super great! We went into
more of the center of Recife to a church building that is 4 stories high! Super
crazy! But oh my goodness, Recife is gorgeous! There´s a bunch of super cool,
old, Colonial style buildings and everything is very colorful. So that was
great. And then the actual training was fantastic. I love President and Sister
Bigelow. One of the things we learned about is how our investigators have to
truly humble themselves and be converted before they are baptized. Because
baptism is such an important covenant and they need to understand the significance
of what they are doing. And I really saw the importance of that this week-- We
were supposed to baptize Eriko, but ended up not because he hasn't really had
the opportunity to keep the Sabbath day holy. I was worried that he´d be upset
and not understand, but yesterday when we were teaching him, he said that he
wants more time to truly keep this commandment and be prepared for baptism. And
I was just so touched by this because he truly understands the significance of
baptism and desires to follow the example of the Savior.
Yesterday was great, because I got to talk to my family!! It
was very nice to see them and talk to them for a little bit. The rest of the
day was a little crazy though because there was a soccer game going on haha.
All of Pina goes CRAZY during soccer games. There was a lot of partying and the
streets were a pretty sketchy. But it´s all good. I love Brazil and the people
of Brazil.
One of my favorite things so far on my mission has probably
been being able to constantly feel the love of the Savior. Doing His work, I´ve
been able to feel closer to Him than I´ve ever felt before. I know that Jesus
Christ lives and that He loves each one of us perfectly!
Love you all!
Sister Anderson
