Sunday, October 25, 2015

Food Miracles

Monday, October 19, 2015

Let me set up a scene for you:
We have to sleep completely wet because it's so hot at night that you have to take showers at least two times so you survive! Anyways, so its been over 100 degrees every single day this week and everyone keeps telling us that its just gonna get hotter.....I just ask for prayers. haha But it's funny because I started my mission in the hottest area that there is, and now I think I'll end in this area which happens to be the second hottest...God has a sense of humor I know it!

As part of a spiritual purification we (as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) make monthly fasts a priority so we are able to receive the specific blessings that comes from 24 hours of prayer and without any food or water. So as I was fasting this week I included in my fast that I could gain a testimony about the importance of fast offerings and giving the little money I have so that others have something to eat and drink.  At the same time, I know the Lord will always provide a way for me to receive the nutrients I need to do the Lord´s work. As I ended my fast we literally were without food in our house and we decided to ask a brother in the ward if we could eat dinner with them because we were hungry. He called his wife and when we got there they had made all the food that they themselves had and we ate and ate and the food NEVER RAN OUT!  This was just the first of many food miracles. When we got home another brother called us and asked if he could stop by becasue he had a suprise for us that he was sure would "make us very happy". When he got there we couldn't even lift the 6 pizzas and boxes of food that he helped carry up the stairs. I cried. I'm serious, I have never been more happy to see food!!!! Then 3 other separate families have called us in the past 24 hours inviting us to eat dinner on almost all the days this week!! (Here in Brasil lunch is the primary meal, so when we have dinner appointments its a miracle because lunch is the only meal we eat with members.) I LOVE THE LORD! THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE!!! The Lord takes really good care of his servants, and this week I gained a VERY strong testimony of why we dontate all that we have to the Lord--because he always blesses us with 100 times more than what we offer him.

Love you all the way from Brazilllllll!!

Sister Anderson

The night we didn't go to bed hungry because of this wonderful family

MORE FOOD!

Splits w Sister Santiago ;)

Pickles after over a year without them!

Me and sister Annis being creative

When we cried because it was SO HOT

BUT THEN WE WERE HAPPY BECAUSE THERE WAS A SWING!





Sunday, October 18, 2015

The hands of God

Monday, October 12, 2015

This week was my "hands of God" week as I spent A LOT of time doing somewhat physical labor for the Sisters that we take care of. As part of the calling that we have as Sister Trainers, we take care of 8 other sisters and go on splits with them in our areas and in theirs so that we can help them physically and spiritually and really in anything that they need.

Anyway so this week we had a mission wide leadership counsel meeting and as part of the responsibilities, President Brum informed us that four of the Sisters would be moving to a different apartment, and that he wanted us to help and then report back to him. We spent almost all of Saturday two of the sisters and us cleaning and organizing and putting in order a whole new apartment to get it ready for this next week. hahah The mission really prepares you for everything and then a little more! We successfully got the job done and am pleased to say that I now have experience moving people in and out of apartments without a car..... hahaha But it was fun! It was great to be able to get to know the other sisters and to listen to the same 8 songs that we have on the cell phone from EFY and Meet the Mormons :) Such a good movie by the way! Anyway so what came of all this is that it turns out that I have developed an aggressive allergy to cleaning products and my hands started peeling and cracking and bleeding. But don't worry I've already bought some medicine and they are healing. It really helped me to think though on Sunday as I took the sacrament and renewed the covenants I made at my baptism, because for a moment I looked at my hands and felt just a tiny part of the pain that the Savior must have felt when they nailed him to the cross and punctured his hands all the way through with thick nails. I was overwhelmed with gratitude and love when I stood and bore my testimony to the ward of the Love of our Savior and the love I have for His work. I know that any and all pain I feel is so very small compared to that that he bore and suffered alone. I love Him for the sacrifice He willingly bore for me so that I can return to the presence of my Heavenly Father someday with my Savior and family by my side. I know that my Savior loves me and testify of this great and marvelous work of which I am His hands and His feet and His love to the people here in Brasil.

with love

Sister Anderson

me and Sister Ferreira gettin ready!


On the bus going to the leadership counsel

Our cool shirts we made!

Me Sister Muniz and Sister Annis

Rain and my companion for the day, Sister Barbosa

Our shopping cart for the big move



ENJOY to the end

October 5, 2015

As part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, every six months we have the privilege of hearing from the prophet and apostles of the church as they speak to all of God´s children here on the earth of His will and plan for us. God wants us to be eternally happy and that is why we have someone, a living prophet, Tomas S. Monson, who leads and guides us in our day. I truly have a testimony that we can not have true worship or religion without communication with God. God communicates to us through His servant as he says in Amos 3:7 and also through His sacred scriptures of which are the Bible and The Book of Mormon. We communicate to God through personal and sacred prayer and he responds to us through our studies and spiritual impressions in our heart and mind.

I loved what Elder Kim B Clark said (who was the president of BYU-I when I was studying there). He says that "we don't have to be perfect, we need to be good and getting better". I can truly say that I'm good and getting better on my journey to perfection. We have the church and all of us are on the same journey in the search of perfection and eternal life in the celestial presence of our Heavenly Father. I am just and ordinary person who is undergoing and extraordinary process. I love this divine work of being a missionary and proclaiming as with the voice of a trumpet that God is our Father. Jesus Christ is His son and our Savior and that proof of God´s love for us is The Book of Mormon. I know that God leads and guides through living prophets just as he did in days of old. If you don't know these things, communicate with God. We cannot gain spiritual knowledge without prayer. I love this work and promise that it changes lives for i see it everyday as I'm here in Brazil laboring in the Lords service.

love sis anderson


We slept in the other sisters house to watch general Conference in their chapel. it was only a little fun

Me and sister Annis swapped clothes and nametags :)

The one and only, my companion Sister Ferreirinha :) LOVE HER!



I'm killing my companion.....

Monday, September 28, 2015

So when a missionary is on their last transfer the missionary that is their companion "kills" them on the mission as if they were dying or something. haha Anyway, Sister Ferriera is finishing in 4 weeks and it's pretty interesting having a companion that is so close to going home. I like it and I LOVE her but man does she love to talk about weddings and marriage, hahaha but I let her, the poor thing.

Our area here is AWESOME and the ward here is even better! The members call and ask when they can go and teach and if there is anything they can do for us. We normally have more food than we can eat in the house because they feed us so well. I will try my hardest not to get ridiculously fat here. We will see...hmmmmm

So I went on my first "splits" as a Sister Leader Trainer. Basically my responsibility is to travel to all the areas of the other cities close to mine and we switch companions for a day and work in the other areas helping them find new people to teach and with any difficulty or problem that the are personally having or with the members or with the language and stuff like that... Anyway, I went on my first division and I went with one of the sister we live with Sister Annis, who's from Ogden, Utah. SHE WAS MY FRIEND BEFORE THIS LIFE. I absolutely love her and we had a blast talking to everyone we saw and dancing and playing in the huge rainstorm that randomly happened. haha

My companion Sister Ferreira is from the Amazon and is like a legit Indian. :0 I love her a lot and she is crazy funny. We laugh so much! And we have even more spiritual experiences so I'm really happy and REALLY tired but its so worth it!

Love you and love my Savior!

Sister Anderson

Me and Sister Ferriera

mustaches

Sister Annis, me, and Sister Muniz

brownies!!!!

da BUS



ONE YEAR AND TRANSFERSSSSSSSS

Monday, September 21, 2015

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved" President Monson

SOOOOOO...... One more transfer and I've hit my 1 year mark!!! I got transferred today to São José do Rio Preto which is like 4 hours from the mission office about halfway betweeen Araçatuba (my first area) and the mission office in Ribeirão Preto! I've been called to be a Sister Leader Trainer which is a Leader for all the Ssiters that live close-ish to me. haha My new companion Sister Ferreira and I are already really loving each other because she was companions to Sister Kelly after Kelly trained me when I first got to the mission. Sister Ferreira told me that her favorite companion was sister Kelly and it just so happens that she was my favorite too :)

Anyway, here it's like 115 degrees ALL THE TIME and I'm very hot!!! But, I a am really excited and ready to start this new transfer with my new comp. This is her last Transfer and that means I'll be "killing her" in missionary terms.

I'm preparing myself to hear all about weddings and dating and all that. haha I'm way excited and next week I'll give you an update on the ward and the area and the people we are teaching and the miracles that we are seeing!

Love you and I love my Savior!!

Sister Anderson

Our Favorite investigators Pamela and Anderson

Playing and packing with Sister Lima da Silva

I made brownies!!!

Ines our "Golden Investigator" that some day will join the church!


Sua Perfeita Expiação (His Perfect Atonement)

Monday, September 14, 2015

Family and Friends that I love so much!

I'm approaching a year and found a poem that sums up how I felt and what I now understand about the atoning power of Christ in my life and the lives of others...I left it in Portuguese first because this language really touches me and speaks to my heart...

Antes eu achava que havia um buraco na expiação de Cristo- Que Ele podia salvar todos- exceto eu. Mas eu estava errada. Não há apenas um buraco, mas sete. Dois buracos em suas mãos pelos quais eles O pregaram A uma cruz em favor daqueles pelos quais Ele morreria para salvá-los. Dois buracos em seus punhos por meio dos quais eles garantiram que o peso de seu corpo não faria com que suas mãos se dilacerassem antes que sua pena estivesse cumprida. Dois buracos em seus pés sobre os quais Ele foi uma testemunha para todos do amor inabalável de Deus por todos os seus filhos. E um buraco em Seu lado pelo qual eles O transpassaram para provar que sua obra estava concluída. Sete. Perfeição. Sete perfeitos buracos. No único Homem perfeito da Terra. A Perfeita Expiação para reparar os buracos de nossa vida. Seus buracos nos tornam inteiros. Eu estava errada. Existe uma parte da Expiação de Cristo para mim afinal de contas...


I used to believe
That there was a hole
In Christ’s Atonement—
That He could save everyone—
Except me.

But I was wrong.
There is not one hole,
But seven.

Two holes in
His Hands
Where they nailed Him
To a cross
At the behest of those
He would die
To save,

Two holes in
His wrists
Where they ensured
The weight of His body
Would not cause
His hands
To rip through
Before His penance
Was complete,

Two holes in
His feet
Where He stood
As a witness to all
Of God’s unyielding love
For each
Of His children,

And one hole in
His side
Where they pierced Him
To prove His work
Was done.

Seven.
Perfection.
Seven perfect holes
In earth’s only
Perfect Man.

The perfect Atonement
To patch the holes in our lives.
His holes make us
Whole.

I was wrong.
There is a
Whole
In Christ’s Atonement
For me
After all.

Kasey Hammer, Utah, USA

I love my Savior and know that in the end, He will be my support and that there is room for me in his arms as I make room for him in my life. I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the miracles I receive daily at his loving hand...

sis anderson







Birthday!!!!!

Monday, September 7, 2015

I wanted to thank you all my wonderful family and friends for the birthday wishes and love that I felt on my 20th Birthday here in Brasil!! The best place ever (except where my family is of course) haha
I'll send pics instead of stories this week. I'll try to get the captions right too. haha

BBQ sauce!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cat shirt from a sister from the ward in São Joaquim da Barra ;)

Zone Araraquara

MY BDAY PACKAGE!!!! (thanks family)

cake #1

cake #2

cake #3

I grabbed a cactus on accident