Cold

Monday, April 28, 2014

This week was crazy, first off it was Easter, and everyone had a day off, because here every little thing is a big holiday. So the LAN house was closed and I only got to send that little letter on Tuesday.  On Thursday we had a meeting with all the leaders in the mission.  Our mission was chosen by the area presidency to start a pilot program until the third week in June, which is when President will leave.  We are going to use half of our time helping the recent converts and will be really cool. We had meetings with all the bishops in our zone and with the stake president.  On Friday we had a zone meeting to pass the pilot to the zone, I got to see my friend Elder F that got here this transfer who was my district leader in the MTC and is from TX.  It was so cool to see him and be able to talk to him.  I was able to talk to missionaries from my old area and I was really happy to hear that two of the families that I was working with there were baptized! Last night we had a transmission from the area presidency about family history.  It was really cool.  I don’t know if you have already seen the booklet, "My family", but it is really cool.  President said that when he was in Salt Lake being taught by the Apostles the main thing that they talked about was family history and that they are all really excited with some of the new programs for this tool.  Get 6 MY FAMILY booklets and fill it out for a family night, I started one today and it is really cool.  On Monday we had a ward family night that was really cool, the activity totally changed at the last minute but it was a lot of fun, we totally winged everything. Last week I got to try sugar cane, the plant itself, it was really weird. It almost looks like bamboo, and you take off the outer husk and suck on the inside of the plant, tastes nothing like sugar, but was cool to see and to try it out.  We got transfer calls last night and my companion was transferred.  He is really sad to have to leave but that’s the way it has to be, it has been a great experience being with him and learning how to be a zone leader.  Here for Easter they give out giant hollow easter eggs, they are really cool.  We also got a box of chocolates, and a bag of homemade chocolates that we really good.  I got to teach English class on Saturday because the other elders weren’t able to, it was fun, it’s weird to teach English to people, it’s so hard to explain.  It’s been really cold here lately, the other night I could see my breath.  I have been using socks to sleep and sleep with a jacket over me because we only have one blanket and my companion has been sick so he needs to use it.  But they should have more in the office that I will grab tomorrow.  Luckily it hasn’t rained a lot more, and the leaks haven’t gotten worse but we have mold growing on our ceiling.  I gave a talk yesterday, bishop told us about it on Wednesday and I didn’t have time to prepare anything so I made it up on the spot for 15 min.  It was pretty good.  We had a baptism on Saturday of a young man that is really cool. He is the tallest Brazilian that I know, 6ft 1 or 2 and he is 17 or 16.  Because it’s been cold here the water in the font was freezing and the heater for the font was broken, and the gas ran out-btw water heaters don’t exist here-and the water almost had ice in it.  I was chosen to baptize him and entered the water first and had to clench my teeth and try to keep a straight face to give the guy confidence, I was trying to explain to him that he would have to bend his knees, and the water was so cold that I was almost gasping.  He was ready to panic, because no one knows how to swim and they don’t have tubs here, or pools, so no one has entered into water, except at the ocean.  So he was panicking, and I said the prayer really fast and put him down so fast the water splashed out.  But like the bible says- only one baptism, and that’s what he got, I think that if it had gone wrong he wouldn’t have had the courage to try again.

Love you all and have a great week, will send photos next week!

Elder Anderson