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

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

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

And the Work Goes On

Hey guys! 

Our p-day today has consisted of walking around the city trying to find an open lan house... But hey, we finally found one! 

The baptism this week was wonderful!!! I love this family so much :) The Spirit was so strong and you could truly see the happiness on their faces :) Flavio and Maria Jose´s son, Thiago, is autistic. He was a little scared at first when he entered the water, but with his parents help, he did it and came out of the water with the hugest smile on his face :) The ward here is also great and so supportive! There were about 60 other people to watch the baptism! 

Gabriella is doing great as well! She loves the church and is diligently searching for an answer! And now she calls us "minhas sisteres"--- "my sisters" haha. It´s pretty cute :) 

This Sunday was the last one of President and Sister Bigelow! Man, I feel so blessed to be a part of their ward! It was so wonderful to hear them speak in sacrament meeting! Sister Taylor and I were able to to a musical number as well! Sister Taylor played the violin and I played the piano, but we didn´t have anytime to practice and just kinda winged it.... But hey, everyone loved it still so I guess it went okay haha. Another wonderful surprise was when Dora showed up at church again! Turns out she´s been having some health difficulties and has been doing Chinese acupuncture (haha) and so that´s why she kind of disappeared for a while! 

I love this Gospel and I love being a missionary!! 

Love you all! 

Sister Anderson