Monday, July 31, 2017

Gabi was Baptized!

Wow, I can´t believe tomorrow is already August! Time is FLYIN!

This week was really great though! 

Gabriela was baptized!!! It was absolutely amazing to find her as an atheist and a couple of months later for her to have her own testimony of Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of the Gospel! Her confirmation on Sunday was very special as well :) In the blessing, Bishop blessed her to be able to prepare to take the Gospel to other people in the world.... Future missionary!! 

Another huge blessing this week was starting to teach a sweet young girl named Stefany! She went to church a couple weeks ago with her cousin who is a member in Gravatá. Turns out she´s already been to church a couple of times in Gravatá and LOVES it! After teaching her about the restoration of the Gospel, she said "why can´t everyone think this way??"-- I totally agree with her! It would be so much better if everyone knew that God calls living prophets today and that Christ´s church is here on the Earth! We went back the next day to teach her mom and when we started to talk about the first vision Stefany said that it is something that she is never going to forget because it touched her so deeply! I´m SO grateful for people who are pure in heart and are ready to hear the Holy Ghost testify of God´s truths! 

This week we were able to visit the temple with Maria José and Flavio! At the temple we met a woman who had served in our mission a year ago who was getting sealed that day. Well turns out, it was this missionary that had baptized Doralice, Maria José´s sister! And so thanks to her missionary work Maria José and Flavio were able to come to know the true Gospel as well! This returned missionary was SO happy to know that! We really don´t understand just how many people we effect when we share the truth of the Gospel with others! 

Have a great week everyone! 
Sister Anderson 




Monday, July 24, 2017

One more Battle Conquered

Hey guys! This week has been great! I´m loooovin´ my comps and I´m feeling very happy! (It´s hard not to be happy doing the work of the Lord :D)
Like the title says, one more battle has been conquered because... GABRIELA FINALLY AGREED TO BE BAPTIZED. Yes, I repeat, Gabriela is going to be baptized. It´s been amazing to see her transform from being an Atheist, to knowing how to pray and receive answers from God and then learning how to act upon those answers. She´s received lots of confirmations from God and after a couple of VERY long lessons and lot´s of encouraging, she finally overcame her fears and marked her baptism for this thursday :)
This week we had zone conference! And the insanse thing was, is that it was my last zone conference! AH! The time has definitely flown by... But I loved the Spirit I was able to feel as President and Sister Houseman taught us! Fun fact about President Houseman-- his profession is studying insects. He practically travels the world gathering insects and studying them haha. In the zone conference he used a super cool example about ants that I want to share with you guys--
Everyone knows how ants walk in a perfect line, one following the other, right? But how is it that the one at the front knows where it´s going? President Houseman taught us that ants have an invisible chemical that they can release from their bellies for the others to be able to smell. And so when one finds food, or the ant hole, he releases that chemical for the others to smell and follow it. And so they always have this invisible force guiding them. President Houseman compared that invisible force to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost isn´t something that we can see, but it´s a gift that God has given us to always guide us and help us through our lives. I´m so grateful for the Holy Ghost and know that He truly does guide us and helps us to stay on the right path!
I hope that everyone has a great Pioneer Day today!! I´m so grateful for those brave early saints that had enough faith and courage to do all that Heavenly Father asked of them to bring to pass the restoration of the Gospel in these last days!
Love you all! 
Sister Anderson

Monday, July 17, 2017

And then there were Three...

Olá gente!
Another sister has joined our companionship and we´re way excited to have her with us!! Her name is Sister Leite and she´s from São Paulo! She has two months on the mission and she´s an incredible missionary and super adorable! Her tranier had to go home for medical reasons and so Sister Taylor and I will be finishing up her training :) It´s really strengthened my testimony of how Heavenly Father knows what we need and when we need it! She´s defintiely been a light in my life these last couple days!
Aside from that, this week was pretty normal! Gabriela is doing super great! It was such a miracle for her to receive an answer that God is real! She still has some hesitancies about baptism but is praying a lot and changing a lot and so I know she´ll get there soon :) Della, the Chinese woman disappeared once again... but hey, I´m not gonna be surprised when she shows up again! Haha. We also started doing an English class in the church and it´s been having some great fruits for us to be able to find people! But man, it´s making me realize that my english has gone down hill!! Haha
I´m so grateful for the Gospel!! Just like the hymn says, "sweet is the peace the Gospel brings". It truly is such a real and sweet peace that we receive from living the Gospel! On my mission I´ve seen a lot of things and have known a lot of people who are truly lacking this peace. But I´ve also seen the peace and happiness that enters into someone´s life when they come to know their Savior and the perfect plan of happiness that Heavenly Father has created for us.
I love you all so much!! 
Sister Anderson


Monday, July 10, 2017

One Less Atheist in the World :)

Heyyyyy! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We had a Zone Conference with President and Sister Houseman on the 4th and so my wonderful companion and I made sure to dress up patriotically :D I´ll send pics!
This week was really great though! We´re still teaching the Chinese woman, Della, and she´s still doing great! We´ve been able to see soooo much change in her! When we taught her this week, it was her that took the initiative to start with a prayer and was so anxious to learn! She also told us how she is really looking for something to believe in and to be able to give all of herself to :) She´s definitely in the right place to do that! When we showed her a pic of Joseph Smith she also found him to be very handsome... that was pretty hilarious. And not the first time it has happened on my mission! Haha
Okay, coolest thing ever.... GABRIELA RECEIVED A TESTIMONY THAT GOD IS REAL! She told on Saturday afternoon that that morning she was reading a part of the Book of Mormon andas she was reading she was able to feel very strongly that God is real and that she broke down crying. It made Sister Taylor and I SO happy because man, we really love that girl a lot! I know that God is our Father and that He hears and answers our prayers!!
This week, during a division in a city called Goiana, I WAS COLD. Yes, I repeat, I was cold. I haven´t felt that in a loooong time! I´m definitely gonna die when I return to the Utahn winter!
I´m so very grateful for the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know that all of God´s truths were restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and that Christ is guiding His church today through the prophet Thomas S. Monson! I know that by following these truths, we will find true and lasting happiness!!
Até o próximo! 
Sister Anderson




Monday, July 3, 2017

PRESIDENT HOUSEMAN

Is it really already July?? It´s insane how the time passes!
This week has been really exciting! Especially with the arrival of President and Sister Houseman! We were able to meet them this Sunday, and man they´re such a cool family! It´s a huge blessing to be a part of their ward :) And turns out that they have a connection with Roosevelt! Sister Houseman´s family is from Altamont and she has a couple siblings that live in Roosevelt! When she saw me the first thing that she said was, "there´s our Roosevelt sister!" haha.
I was also able to do a super cool division this week in a city called Olinda! If you look up pics on google, you´ll see that it´s a super pretty and colorful place! It´s right by the ocean and there´s a huge light house that we worked next to all day, so that was cool :D It was quite the adventure though as Olinda has been suffering flooding and there was a lot of water-- we also met a woman whose mom had 28 children hahaha. Just had to throw that in, because that´s A LOT of children!
On Sunday some wonderful members named Fabio and Rebekah invited Gabriela to eat lunch with us! It was wonderful! There´s such a special spirit and peace in their house and I know Gabriela could feel it! She´s progressing wonderfully!
This week I´ve been thinking a lot about our love for God and how it should be above all things. Something in common that I was able to see in President and Sister Bigelow and that I saw in President and Sister Houseman is their immense love for God and desire to serve Him! They would do anything or sacrifice anything to be able to serve God and do what He asks of them! Just as they´ve left their homes to live in another country and serve Him for three years! I´ve felt that love grow inside of me as well during my mission and I know that as we always put God first we will find true joy in this life!
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TOMORROW!!!! 
Sister Anderson