Pancakes, Samba, and Miracles

Well guys, it´s the week of Carnaval and... things have been pretty normal until now haha. We´ve been leaving at 9am and returning home 6pm. The streets have been pretty abandoned as all of the main Carnaval festivities are in another part of Recife. BUT, they are going to start happening here in our area now, and so I think my email might be a little different next week. But in the meantime, Sister Guimarães has been taking advantage of the opportunity to teach me how to Samba and we´ve made pancakes various times during the week. So that´s great. Haha

And as for the miracles! Wow, I really saw God blessing us! At the beginning of this week, this area was DEAD. DEAD GUYS. Seriously NO ONE was home and we weren´t finding anyone to teach. Buuut, lots of prayers and work and God puts miracles into our lives! As we continued working, we were able to find some awesome families to teach, and I am VERY excited to see how they´ll progress! 

One of our miracles from this week has been Rafaella! She is the friend of Lucas that he took to church two Sundays ago! She has been progressing wonderfully and is super excited for her baptism this Saturday! It´s amazing how prepared some people are to just accept everything about the Gospel! 

I had an experience at the temple this week that really touched me! We were at the temple to meet up with a couple members that were going leave with us to do visits that day. When we got there there was a big group of members from another state loading up all of their bags onto the bus to head back home. These people travel SO far and put so much preparation and sacrifice into being able to go to the temple! Attending the temple is definitely one of the greatest blessings we have and should not be taken for granted! 

I´m so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that listens to and answers our prayers! I´ve really been able to feel this week just how real He is and just how much He loves us! 

Feliz Carnaval! 
Sister Anderson

Here are some photos from the last couple weeks! The first ones are from a super cool place called "O Alto do Sé" that we went to and the other one is from the baptism of Yasmin! 

TRANSFERED 3 TIMES

Okay, I´m just kidding, I wasn´t transfered... But I sure do feel like I was! 

This week we did 3 divisões (I think it´s 'splits' in English haha) with the sisters that we take care of. For anyone who doesn´t know, that´s where I´m stay with a sister and Sister Guimarães stays with her companion and we work with them for a day, and help them out with anything they´re needing. Because I don´t know my area super well yet, I always went to the area of the other sister to work with her, and so I think I was out of my area this week more than I was in it! It was really cool though to spend time with other sisters and learn from them! 

Wednesday and Thursday I was in a place called Goiana, that has 4 sisters working there. It´s about 2 hours from Recife, super hot, and FULL of people from a religion called "a Assembleia de Deus"... they don´t really like our church and so there´s a lot of glaring and horn honking as you walk the streets... The sisters there are troopers haha. But putting that aside, there´s a lot of good people there as well, and I had a lot of cool experiences! :) 

YASMIN WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!! It was so wonderful! I love that family so much! It was super cool to have her dad baptize her as well. He´s a really strong, big guy, but afterwards he got up to bare his testimony and started to cry, and so that was really special. After the baptism, there was a ward activity to welcome all of the new families in the ward and so that was really fun :) 

One of our recent converts, Lucas, took a friend to church-- a woman named Rafaella. She loved church and we were able to teach her later on Sunday and mark her for baptism! I´m so grateful for the miracles that God puts into our lives! 

Well, things here in Brazil are getting a little "vida louca" with Carnaval coming up this weekend haha. Carnaval pretty much consists of things called "blocos"-- A car with speakers the size of a semi truck driving down the rode blasting music, and a huge group of people behind dancing and drinking beer haha. Sister Guimarães and I are REALLY trying to avoid them. And so what do we do? Ask people on the street where all the blocos are happening. Just imagine, two missionaries walking around asking where´s the nearest festa de Carnaval-- it´s pretty funny haha. Buuuut, no worries, we´ll be super safe. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Don´t forget to pray and ask to have missionary experiences! There´s truly few things that bring a greater joy! 

Love you all! 
Sister Anderson

p.s. Once again I want to send pictures, but once again I am in the horrible virusy lan house :( 

It's already been a week?!

Wow guys. This week REALLY flew by. 

My week consisted of meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Haha

Tuesday I had training for new leaders, wednesday was mission council, and thursday was Zone Conference! But hey, I´m not complaining. I learned a ton and as I´m sure you all know, I love being with President and Sister Bigelow! Haha. 

This area continues to be full of new adventures! Friday we had lunch with a member of the 70! Almost died I was so nervous haha. Tried to crack a couple jokes... no one laughed... yeah, it was embarrassing. Haha. But it´s all good, the mango juice was super delicious :) 

This week I really saw God putting us in the right place, with the right people, at the right time! We would just be walking, bump into a member, and then a friend of the member would pass by, and then we would mark to visit the friend! God is so aware of us and willing to help us out! 

Yasmin is going to be baptized this Saturday!! I just love that family! I´ve loved being able to see them completely change! Yasmin´s dad is so different now after returning to the church and preparing to baptize Yasmin. There´s a new light on his face :) 

I´m so grateful for the Plan of Salvation! I love studying and understanding more about why we´re here on the earth and the potential that we have as sons and daughters of God. On the mission you really perceive your weaknesses and things you need to improve, but the Plan of Salvation and understanding that the Savior suffered for my imperfections gives me a constant hope that I can improve every day!

Amo vocês! Tchau, tchau! 

Sister Anderson

Us with Sister Saad :) 

Some sisters from Pina that we bumped into! 

 Me and my comp :) 

I LOVE CASA FORTE

It´s serious guys. I´ve been placed in heaven.

This area is SO blessed and I feel SO blessed to be serving here! Our week has been just full of miracles, feeling the spirit, and being blessed by the temple!

So Casa Forte is more in the center of Recife-- a place full of skyscrapers and a lot cleaner than my first area in Recife haha. Our apartment is about 5 minutes walking distance from the temple. I honestly can´t even describe how beautiful the temple is. When you get close, it´s the first thing you see-- it´s incredible at night how it shines brighter than any other building close to it! I think there were only a couple days this week where we didn´t teach someone at the temple, eat lunch there, or pass by to use the bathroom-- I think that´s why I´m feeling a little in heaven haha. The garden outside of the temple is SO beautiful, full of mango trees and shade, and the PERFECT place to teach people! It´s also amazing the people you meet there! I`ve already bumped into some of the members from my first area and a sister that I knew in the CTM! 

This Tuesday, we stayed almost all day with a sister named Sister Saad. She was called to be a trainer and came to Recife to pick up her new companion. But, because only 1 new sister arrived this transfer, Sister Saad needed companions to stay with her while the new sister was arriving, and so, we were the chosen ones! So that meant an American breakfast at President´s house, a session at the temple, and Burger King afterwards! It was great :) 

I love my new investigators and right now we are teaching the sweetest family! Josie the mom and her two teenage daughters, and the dad, Celso and his daughter Yasmin. Everyone in the family are members except for Yasmin. The family has been inactive and Yasmin moved in to live with her dad recently. And so this week we´ve been working on reactivating the family and preparing Yasmin to be baptized! It´s been amazing to see God blessing them and helping them to change. Celso is a taxi driver and usually works on Sunday-- BUT, everyone was at church this Sunday and Celso is preparing himself to be able to baptize Yasmin!

I´m just so happy and love this work so much! My testimony of the temple has grown so much this week-- the peace that we can find there is real! I know that God loves us and is so aware of us and that every trial, every blessing-- EVERYTHING that He does for us is because He love us :) 

Love you all! Até o proximo! 
Sister Anderson 

p.s. I want to send pics SOOO badly, BUT this lan house is sketch. This week will proceed my hunt for a new lan house haha.