My Companion is My Sister!

Hello everyone! 

A new transfer has begun!

Sister Guimarães will be home with her family tomorrow and I am now with my new companion, Sister Taylor! To explain the title, we had the same "mom" (trainer), Sister Lopez, thus making us sisters! She´s from Ogden and adorable. And so here we go, two white Americans walkin´ the roads of Brazil. It´s gonna be fun ;D haha

This week was really great! I just love Brazil and love being a missionary!

I think the best thing that happened this week was that Silvania finally decided to be baptized!! It´s been a while that we´ve been teaching this wonderful woman. I´ve been amazed by her love for the Book of Mormon and desire to follow God. However, along the way there´s been some difficulties with her family and keeping some of the commandments. We taught her allll week and then she went to church on Sunday and loved it! When we went to visit her Sunday night, she said that at church she was able to feel certain that the church is true! She´s had some difficulties with drinking coffee and said that all day her family was trying to get her to drink coffee, but that she was strong, drank a couple cups of limade, and was able to refuse the coffee everytime! When we asked her about baptism, she smiled and said that we could mark a date. Silvania´s baptism will be this Saturday!

I know that Christ lives and loves us! This week I have been studying in 3 Nephi when the Savior visited the people in America and established His church there-- what amazing scriptures!! It´s been so special to put myself in the story and read as if I was there as He ministered to the people-- I know that Christ´s love for us is perfect and that He is willing to do ANYTHING to help us have happiness and return to live with Him and Heavenly Father one day!

Love you all! 

Sister Anderson

For Sister Guimarães´ last pday, we went to pizza hut! It´s a lot more fancy in Brazil!

Our last district meeting together :D

One More Week with my Beloved Companion!

Guys. It´s the last week of the transfer and the last week of Sister Guimarães´ mission. These last 4 months with her have been crazy and ridiculously fun. I´ve learned so much from her and we have been so blessed! It really gives me a testimony that God is in control and puts the people we need into our lives!

This week was very very good! So many AMAZING people that we were able to start teaching! I think one of my favorite people that we were able to meet this week was a young woman named Catarina! She has two friends who are members of the church and invited her to learn more. We were able to teach her together with her friends at the temple-- I don´t think there exists a better place to teach someone than the temple! The Spirit was SO strong during the lesson and you could see It really working within her. She was amazed to know that today we have a living prophet and asked so many questions about that! At the end of the lesson, she offered the closing prayer and started to cry as she thanked Heavenly Father for these two friends that He had placed into her life. It really showed me how just loving someone and being a good friend can make such a big impact in someone´s life and help them to accept the Gospel! 

This week we also had our last interviews with President and Sister Bigelow before they return home and we receive our new mission President.... that part was pretty sad. Haha

But goodness, this week I am so grateful for the work that the members do! We have so many good and interested people to teach and help prepare to be baptized all because of members who had the courage and faith to invite their friends to hear the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Amo vocês!! 

Sister Anderson 

A Taste of Home :)

Óla everyone! I hope everyone had a good week and a wonderful Mothers´ Day! 

Like the title says, this week was full of little pieces of home! 

Della is doing so well! On Tuesday she went to the BYU Young Ambassadors performance with President and Sister Bigleow and took 6 other Chinese friends-- they loved it! We were also finally able to teach her a lesson and I got to teach it in English! It was really cool to be able to teach and testify in my native language! I could feel the Spirit very strongly :) And then this Sunday at church, President and Sister Bigelow offered to give her a separate class in English and help her to understand more about God. It was SUCH a special experience. Everything that we teach her is so new to her. It´s so amazing to see someone learning God´s truths for the first time! I think one of my favorite moments was when President Bigelow told her that she´s a daughter of God. In that moment the Spirit testified so strongly to all of us that it´s true, and I can´t even describe the look of happiness and surprise that Della had on her face! Knowing that we´re all beloved children of God is such a special truth!! 

Wednesday night the BYU Young Ambassadors did a special devotional that we were able to take our friend, Camilla to :) The devotional was them singing and sharing their testimonies with the chapel full of people! There were people translating their testimonies, but they memorized and sang the songs in Portuguese! It was beautiful!! I love how we can feel the Spirit testify to our hearts through music! 

And to top off the week I got to talk to my wonderful family on Sunday! 

I´m so grateful for the immense amount of blessings that Heavenly Father has put into my life! I´m so grateful to have such wonderful family and friends! I love you all and hope that everyone has a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Anderson 

Winter has Arrived

Winter in Brazil = rain, rain, and more rain. 

But seriously guys. Every day. So much rain. But it´s all good, it´s nice to take a little break from the sun! And it also means that people or more likely to be in home for us to find them and teach them! Haha

This week was super good! Thursday was our Zone Conference and Sunday was stake conference! And guess who showed up at stake conference! None other than... Della!! Turns out that last week she had travelled to São Paulo and that´s why she hadn´t gone to church! It was definitely an answer to prayers for her to show up again :) And once again it was so sweet to see the Spirit work with her. She loves the church and has such a strong desire to learn! After the conference, I took her to meet President and Sister Bigelow and they invited her and anyone else from the Chinese Consulate to go with them to a performance of the BYU Young Ambassadors that´s going to happen here in Recife this week! She´s super excited to go and I´m excited for her as well! :) 

In our Zone Conference this week President Bigelow taught about repentance in a way that really makes it more than just a "5-step process". He said that we can think about it like we are living in the darkness and Christ is the sun. When we´re far away from Him, we can´t see anything. But the closer and closer we get, we´re going to start to see a "stain on our sleeve" or a "tear in our pants"-- we´re going to start to see our imperfections, sins, and weaknesses. There´s a scripture in the Book of Mormon in Moroni 7:48 that says, 

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." 

As we start to see Christ and how He is, we´ll have a desire to change and be "purified even as he is pure." We´ll have a desire to repent and make the necessary changes in our lives to become more Him. The more we learn about Him and the more faith we have in Him, the more we´ll be able to recognize these things in our lives. But the miracle that happens after, is exactly what it says in Ether 12:27-- "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I know that through Christ we can make ANY change in our lives because of His ongoing and constant love, support, and hope!

Love you all! 

Sister Anderson 

Week 1 of the New Transfer

Hey guys! 

The beginning of this week was pretty crazy! Our house is pretty much the mission hotel-- during transfers there´s always a ton of sisters sleeping at our house. And so the first couple days of the week our house was full with 10 sisters haha. Kind of crazy, but it was all good because I got to see Sister L. Silva, one of my companions from Arcoverde! :) 

Silvania and her family are doing well! On monday we had a family home evening with them and some members from our ward and it was super fun :) Afterwards Sabrina, Silvania´s daughter, said that she wants to be Mormon! haha. We talked to them about baptism and Silvania and Sabrina are super excited :) We´re still working on the other members of the family, but the baptism will be happening here in a couple weeks!

Something that I loved this week was a lunch that we had with a missionary couple who are serving in the Recife temple! Usually the temple missionary couples give us money to eat in the temple cafeteria, but the temple is closed right now for maintenance and so we got to eat in the their little apartment on the temple grounds! They found out recently that he has cancer-- obviously something very difficult. But I was so extremely touched by the immense peace I could feel in their home and the love that they have for Heavenly Father. It´s hard to describe exactly how it was, but it made me so extremely grateful for a knowledge of Heavenly Father´s plan for us-- it brings a peace and happiness so great that we can overcome any difficulty or challenge in our lives. 

Aaaand the sad news... I was able to get in contact with Della, the Chinese woman. She said that she would be too busy for us to visit during the week, but that she would go to church on Sunday. Well... she didn´t go to church on Sunday... But it´s all good haha. The mission teaches you all sorts of things, including how to deal with dissapointment! 

I´m so grateful for the Book of Mormon! It´s impossible for me to read it without feeling the Spirit and feel God´s love! It always gives me the strength I need to make it through the day and remember that the Savior is always with us to strengthen us and lift us up! I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that a daily study of it can make all the difference in our lives! 

Love you all!! 

Sister Anderson