Franca Fun!

Monday, April 27, 2015

So this week was an adventure when my companion was sick for 4 days and eventually had to spend a whole day in the hospital. At the end of the exams and tests the doctors said she had nothing and that she could go....hahahahaha OH BRASIL!

We have been teaching our investigator Castelo. He is 85 and adorable and we have to yell to teach him and HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY! Please everyone pray for him! The more knowledge we have of the truth, the more the enemy tries to make our lives full of trials and hardships. BUT, I am confident that he will make it! His wife and son are already members of about 5 months and they are really helping and supporting and encouraging him! SEND THE PRAYERS! We ask him questions as we are teaching him and his response is always something like "Of course I believe! It's logical and you wonderful young ladies wouldn't lie about Jesus!" Oh man I love him, he's just a cute old man without teeth that is about to receive salvation!

I've learned so much patience here in Franca and that when we REALLY exercise patience we see the blessings and the miracles really come. Less actives are returning to church, the ward is more united. we have weekly activities, and we are setting baptismal dates right and left with people that have been prepared by the merciful hand of the Lord!

I'm so grateful so happy and so tired but the work is moving forth!

Love you!

Sister Anderson

FOOD!!!!!

preparing myself for the days i have to be a mom and cook and stuff :)

these are the shoes i would like if you could send agian :) (Clarks is the brand)

look mom! i use the earings and headbands you always send me and i love them!

My dying companion sister Huamaní haha

this is Castelo :)

these are the favelas, full of Gods children ready to here the good word of the gospel by the mouths of Sister Anderson and Sister Huamaní!

FRANCA!!!

Monday, April 20, 2015

So I'm in Franca and its the "coldest" area in our mission. haha But because its cold here the people are too.  Also the city was built in between three mountains, so the roads are all tilted and there are millions and millions of mountains to walk up, both ways, every day. hahah  But really, it is so hilly and my calf muscles are growing. Also there are only 50 regularly attending members at the church on Sunday and A LOT of less actives.  We work 50 percent of the time reactivating and the other 50 with our investigators! Speaking of, we have an investigator who is 85 years old and has no teeth and can't hear and we literally have to yell for him to hear us! hahahaah I'ts so awesome! He is the husband of a recent convert of 5 months and his baptismal date is in two weeks. Pray for Brother Castelo! He is so dang cute I love him! He sings and dances samba and cooks for us. haha So the members here don't normally give us lunch, but they give us money so me and my companion, Sister Huamaní do a lot of cooking and experimenting and its really fun actually!

So i have a real testimony-builder experience that the Book of Mormon really does answer all the questions to all our problems. This ward here isn't very united at all, so we planned an activity using questions from the BOM and if you didn't know or answered wrong you got whipped cream in your face. hahah It was really simple and really fun and all the members LOVED it and told us that they want more activities! So here the activity planning skills I learned in student government and from my wonderful mother come into play. haha Anyway, now that the members are more united they are giving us more references and are giving us dinners and planning FHE with us and its awesome! I actually feel like I'm making a difference!!

From a very happy and VERY tired

Sister Anderson

the natural "fountain" in Franca :)

my hair after our activity with the members

it was POURING rain!! litterally it was like we were walking through a swimming pool hahaha

TRANSFERS!!!

Monday, April 13, 2015

WOOHOO TRANSFERS!! Just kidding it's actually like Christmas waiting and then if you get transferred or you receive the notice for something you never wanted it's like when they say that school is canceled and then call back to say never mind.... :)

So since I have no time with the transfer I'll keep the email short and send pictures!! I'm here in Franca on the very outskirts of the mission!! woohooo :) Me and my companion Sister Huamanì are the only sisters in our zone of 20 elders so that should be and adventure, right? I'm excited, and we are basically opening but not opening a new area and really changing the work here in this area. My companion is from Peru and is 25 and is crazy! She talks a lot, so that should be fun to understand her Portuguese with a Peruvian accent! haha I like her a lot already and I'm excited for the HUGE challenge ahead of us! like it says millions of times over in the scriptures, everything happens on the Lord's time and in the Lord's way, and we have to rely that he knows better ALWAYS. And when He calls I go willingly with a smile on my face. I made that a personal mission goal, that no matter what happens or what I go through on the mission, I will keep smiling and keep relying on the Lord. He gives us the strength when we feel like we have none!

I love this gospel and I'm excited to see the Lord's plan for me here in Franca!!

Sister Anderson

when we ate chicken feet.....yummmmmmmmmmm :)

Divisions with other sisters Azevedo and Guzman!

sister Andersen and her need to walk with everything in her hands :) im gonna miss her!

Week of Conferences!!!

Monday, April 6, 2015

This week we had a huge Zone Conference and of course it was General Conference!! I can't even describe in words how much I love to hear the words of our living apostles and prophets two times every year!!!

It was so special to hear the words of our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson on Easter Sunday as he testified of our living Savior Jesus Christ. If you haven't seen the prophet talk here is the invite: Listen to the prophets words and you will, without doubt, feel the spirit of the Lord touching your heart and mind! What Love our Father in Heaven has for us to give us modern day revelation and guidance through His servants!

Something I love that L. Whitney Clayton talked about is that we CHOOSE TO BELIEVE. I love that because while we all have our agency, that means we have to make those steps of faith to believe in a higher power and in the atonement. He also said that every choice we make more often than not starts with a sacrifice. I would like to add that every choice to follow Christ starts with lots of sacrifices and a lot of applied faith. Instead of casually keeping the commandments we need to build upon the doctrine of God step by step in our faith. We should always hold fast to what we already know and then stay strong until additional knowledge comes! Stay strong! We have the power of the Living Lord on our side working against the powers of the enemy!! When you are on the winning side there is no way to fail. Put yourselves on the team of the Lord. He lives. He is all powerful. He loves us unconditionally. He suffered and died and resurrected so that we may enter into the presence of God with our families after this life. I love my Savior and I love His perfect gospel and plan.

HAPPY EASTER FOR CHRIST THE LORD HAS RISEN!

Sister Anderson

package number 6 from my wonderful mother!!!

Conferência Geral (General Conference haha)

watching good ol conference in English with my companion :)

PATIENCE

Monday, March 30, 2015

"Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something...even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"

Man I love that quote. As I think about Easter, I think about the unending patience of our Savior. As a personal mission goal, I've been studying one attribute of Christ every month in an effort to really try to master it. For the month of April I've chosen patience. Patience to baptize. While I have been out almost 7 months I still have not baptized, but I have no doubt in the hundreds of seeds that I have planted. All of us know how seeds turn into trees right? That seed (we will call it faith) takes A LOT of time and patience to turn into a big and fruitful tree. Well the ultimate goal of missionary work is eventually making temple covenants with our family, the first step is Faith and then you add A LOT of patience and time and eventually you have a little tree; baptism. After that the tree grows, testimonies grow, conviction to the covenants we have already made and the doctrine we know and practice, and then the tree gives yield to fruit. And that is when the Lord looks down on the tree and says, "You did it! Welcome to my kingdom." That's my mission goal. I don't need a mission of baptisms if i know that I've at least spread a million seeds. And whats the magic ingredient to a big fruitful tree that comes from a tiny little seed? PATIENCE.

Remember that the Lord is ever patent with us when we doubt and try to rush things in our own time. The Lord knows the best time for everything and so ultimately we have no reason to despair with a constant knowledge of hope. Just as fruit comes with time, blessings come with a lot of patience applied to every growth in faith.

I love you and I love my Savior and how long-suffering and patient He is with me.

Sister Anderson

Sister Andersen (current companion) and my mom Sister Kelly

Guaraná Jesus!! From Maranhão 

View of Ribeirão from a members apartment

CONVIDAR SEM DUVIDAR

Monday, March 23, 2015

Invite without doubting! (it sounds way cooler in Portuguese) If you think you cant do something you are right. If you think you CAN do something, you are also right. A lot of missionary work is talking to complete strangers and starting off your conversation with "Hi I'm a missionary...." and a lot of times the conversations ends with "And?" or "Im evangelical" haha, so the point is that really there are a lot of opportunities to get discouraged and frustrated if you let the opinions of the world trump the doctrine of God. On Sunday we had a ward conference and the Bishop gave a talk and talked about the story of the "Little Engine that Could". I immediately thought of my older Brother Cam hahah at first I wasnt sure why but then I remembered all the times he encouraged me with these words "I THINK I CAN, I THINK I CAN".  I'd like to adapt that to missionary work. Not only for full time missionaries, but for everyone with a testimony of Christ and a burning desire to spread His light to illuminate the lives of others. If you think you can, you can. The best part about that statement isn't the "you" but it's the "can". It's the action that comes after your faithful desire to do something that may seem beyond your capacity. You put in 1 percent and the Lord does the rest. You have to think and act like that little engine though. You have to take the first little chug on the track which may be simply opening your mouth to invite someone to church, or writing a letter to your friend and including your testimony of the Savior. All the Savior asks is that we first do SOMETHING. That's what helps me as a missionary. Knowing that no matter how many people reject me or tell me no or even tell me that what I believe is wrong, it doesn't hurt because "I know I can, I know I can" through the power of the Lord!

JUST RELY! SÓ CONFIE!

all my love

Sister Anderson

it was "cold" like 75 degrees and so we HAD to wear sweaters haha

We had an amazing mission tour with Elder Grual of the 70 and I got presents from Sister Kelly´s family!

Her cute grandma made me a skirt owwwwwww

 

Sis andersen sis Kelly at mission tour

6 months!!!!!! 6 reais hahaha

6 MONTHS!!!

Monday, March 16, 2015

MY GOODNESS TIME FLYS WHEN YOU ARE PREACHING THE GOOD WORD!!! haha Seriously though, time is passing so fast and I want it to stop!!! One third of the way down and yet I have so very much to learn and to do!!

So this week was way good because the members are working with us and they gave us 7 references and then on top of that went with us to the lessons and then on top of THAT they talked to the investigators afterwards on their own time and shared more of their testimonies!!! Wow, how different the work of the Lord is when His children who have knowledge of the gospel are spreading it to those who have been prepared and are ready to hear it, being placed into their lives as coworkers or neighbors or random people in stores they always go to! way too cool! So me and my companion, Sister AndersEn (haha so funny), made a goal for the week to do 100 contacts. So it was Sunday and we needed 10 more to reach our goal (and then or course one more to overcome it hahah) so we were at a members house visiting with her and cooking because she just had surgery when we came up with an idea for our last ten contacts. She lives o the 2nd floor of an apartment building right across the street from a Japanese restaurant okay. She we go out on her balcony and sang in harmony "Nearer My God to Thee" in English, ya know, to capture even more attention, and than we went down and contacted all the 10 people that 'happened" to be outside of the restaurant eating!! Such a cool way to end the week and get ur goal! Plus I'm singing, in public, for other people. That's a miracle in itself. haha

Spiritual lesson:
Set your goals and then take them to the Lord. Then when he gives you a "how" for your goals run out of your comfort zone and just do it! In this case who knows how many of the ten people we sang to will get baptized, but it doesn't matter for us right now because we planted a seed! And seeds grow with just a tiny amount of faith!!! Such a cool spiritual experience and it was way fun!! Anyways, know that I have six months and sang from a balcony, I'M ON MY WAY!!!!!!

love you!!

Sister Anderson

Me and a baby turtle :)

Im a Fruitcake

Contact 101 with a piece of cake and pass along card for our neighbor :)