Happy Valentines Day!

Pictures:

A nice Pday with BK and High School Musical 3 Pictures:

A nice Pday with BK and High School Musical 3

Cruizing along with Sister Souza

Fortaleza, Ceará, BRASSSIILLLL

A little sunrise action

Hey All!  Tuda bem? I geuss this week was pretty normal for the most part.  It was a little bit more relaxed than others which was nice.  I hope you are all doing well though. So lets start from the beginning.  Last week, we were a lot more focused in getting alot of stuff done in the area.   Elder Reynolds and I are getting along great.  We have had a lot of laughs and a lot of wierd connections.  Some one, who knows some one... (you know how that is in the church).  We been going hard trying to get all of our goals met while working in the office at the same time.  Some times days seemed more crammed than others but we have a good time having full days of work and coming home just exhausted.   There were some nights when we came home and Elder Reynolds said that he was going to use use the bathroom and I just kinda fell asleep at my desk.  There were others in which we finished planning and I just  went straight to my bed to wait for the shower and woke up at midnight wondering why I was still in my tie and church.  I geuss that is the only way I can really describe how much work we have.  We are trying to teach a tone of people every week to have some ´´sucess´´ at bringing them to church.  We invite everyone as usual and I feel like all of our efforts are working and never wasted. Since being in the area for as along as I have, I always give that stories to Elder Reynolds about members, investigators, or random people we see on the street.  There seems to be alot of laughing between us both.  We left our house a few times this week ´´pumping ourselves up´´ singing Mulan songs and then singing songs that we remembered from home.  Brazilians seem to love rather tall Americans walking down the street.  There is always the occiasionally ´´Hello, Good Night, and How are you´´ (the few phrases know how to say). As for investigators, theres is a few that seem like that have been waiting for the gospel for a while.  There was a man named Ricardo that just invited us into his this week.  He stopped us when we were talking to his neighbor and basically said that he wanted to hear what we had to stay since he has always had the will to go visit the church.  Me and Elder Reynolds had a really good vibe from this guy and it was all because he wanted to see what we had to say.  I like the way that a lot of people start.  ´´Hey, your men of God. Tell me why this is happening..´´ there always seem to be good a discussion afterwards.   The festivities for ´´Carnival´´ have begun here in Fortaleza.  There were some nights that entire streets were closed down because people were having parties.  The actual holiday isn´t until the 21st of this month but it seems like there will be a lot of people partying up until that day.  We have a lot of plans for this week but it seems like most people are fleeing the city and going more inland. Carnival can get more crazy has it gets close to the holiday so we have to be a lot more careful.  There seems like a lot of people especially our investigators that are leaving so we will have to make do with everything as they leave.  The actual idea of Carnival is a mystery to most people still, its a holiday but most of the people I have asked they don´t really know why we celebrate it.  Some say thats it because the African-americans were freed and we celebrate because of that.  Luckily we dont have to leave our area or hide out in our houses like some missionaries here and in other missions around the world. Life seems pretty good.  Working hard everyday and trying to keep my eyes up when I study in the morning.  I love this work though.  I love the fact that I wake up every morning and go out to teach people about Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven.  There is no other work more time consuming or rewarding that I have ever done in my life.  I know that this work is true.  That God loves each of us and he has a plan for all of us.  Jesus Christ is our savior and the only way that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father some day.  Have a great day to all of you!

Love,

Elder N. Anderson

And so it begins...2/6

OI Bom Dia to all! So this week has absolutely be hecktic (I think thats how you spell it).  I´ll have to start from the beginning to really describe it all so lets start after I sent my email to all you all last week.  It was about 5 o´clock last Monday afternoon and we were just fininshing up a few things in the office before heading back to the area.  My first of assignment of the new transfer was being called as Reference Sec. of the Mission.  I was staying in the area for my 5th trasfer with my new companion Elder Reynolds.   Everything was set for the transfer until we recieved and email that another missionary was arriving in the mission on Wednesday.  This usually throws everyone through a loop because right after the transfer is set they have to move a bunch of things around to make room for the new missionary.  President gave us a call and told us that there would be some changes in the transfer for us.  Elder Reynolds was going to train in Expedicionarios and I was coming to the office to work full-time.  I explained it a little bit but the plan was that I would work in the office part time and in the area the other.  But things got switched and everything changed.  I talked to President on the phone about the area and he said that we needed to go the area, introduce Elder Reynolds to the members and show the entire area to him until Wednesday afternoon and then be at the office to get Elder Reynolds new comp.  Me and Elder Reynolds were kinda bumbed because we really wanted to be comps and were looking forward to a good transfer together.  We raced home, walked into the house and then went to go meet members and investigators.  I started to say goodbye to a lot of people which was kinda sad. Tuesday I started the strenious packing.   I was doing laundry, throwing things into the suit cases and already to go at about 3 o´clock on Tuesday.  Our plan was to go meet and say goodbye to more investigators, members, and show  the area a little bit more.  My suit cases were at the door just waiting for me.  I did a pretty good about packing fast.   When we were walking down the street our phone started ringing and geuss who it was... President. His exact words were, there seems to be a mix up and there will not be a transfer after all. I was a little shocked as well as Elder Reynolds.   President said that I would still continue as Seceretary and continue to work with Elder Reynolds in Expedicionarios.  It was an interesting few days after that.  We just continue to work and try to pretend like nothing happened.  Even though I still find myself trying to find things in my packed suit cases.My old companion, Elder Graff got sick a few weeks ago and ended up having to go home for surgery this week.   It was a little sad since he only have one more transfer left but I talked to him and said that he just had this feeling that he had to go home before anything got worse.  We got permission to go to the airport to say goodbye.  Elder Graff trained Elder Reynolds and we were comps for a transfer so it was cool to go say goodbye to him.  It seems weird that he went home just because it was something that happened so fast.  Between making alot of trips to the office this week we had a good week.  Elder Reynolds and I working really well together, I see things in him that remind me of Elder Graff and it just seems like we started off as good friends right from the start.  We are having a good time getting to know each other and finding alot of great people to teach.  We were rally excited to stick together this transfer and look forward to coming to the office more often.  So as for the seceretary position, so I am the Reference Seceretary of the mission.  If anyone has a reference or referral (as we say in the states) they usually pass it to me and I will put it in the computer and find out were it is.  President wants a new program of passing references so it was busy trying to get new things going this week.  I have gotten references for other missions in Brasil as well as references for the Rome Italy Mission and California Los Angeles Mission.   Its pretty fun when you get to call and pass those ´´international´´ ones along.  I like sticking around in the office, getting to know President better and helping out with the alot of the Mission stuff.  I am working a lot closer with President Souza and figuring out a lot things on Microsoft Excel, lds.org, googlemaps, etc.  I have a nice Air Conditionar right next to me which keeps things a little cooler.  The mission office is a sky rise building that has a great few of Fortaleza. Today,  we helped clean up the mission home and made some good mexican food.  I yiyiyi its been a long time :) Things will definatly be staying busy every week, there might be a little less walking but we keep pushing forward in are own area and in the office.  I hope you are all having a good week.  The church is so true where ever you are, the work of the Lord will always continue to go forward.  I hope you are all having a good week.  Congrats on the news to Alicia with the Baby and Emily having a BOY! YEAH!  Just remember Uncle Nick in the name choosing :) 

Have a good week to all.  I love you!

Elder N. Anderson

Elder N. Anderson's "New" New Assignment

Elder N. Anderson's "New" New Assignment

I just read this email from Nick that he sent about an hour ago (he has been on the computer “on and off” all morning or day depending what time zone you are in) looks like a new assignment to the new assignment.  Our Elder will be the “Mission Secretary”  We will have to pull out the maps to see where all these places are.  Looks like he will be in the office working under the President.  Great experience for our Bubba!  Love too you all!

Dad

 From: Nicholas Anderson [mailto:nanders5@myldsmail.net]

Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 12:59 PM

To: Bryce Anderson

Subject: Re: Still there

Hey dad, change of plans, let the family know..  I will be transfered, I will be coming here to Aldeota to stay here as a full-time secertary of the mission.  Things are a little crazy but I will be explaining it all this next week. There is a house here for the Sec. right on the same street as the avenue.  Its full of bunk beds and really crazy sometimes.  It gets pretty crazy sometimes.  Anyways. I love you Dad. Have a good week! Love you!

Nick

5 Transfers in the area

Pictures:

Elder Loureiro, Elder Howland, Elder N. Anderson ... Seceretaries of the Mission

My new Companion, Elder Reynolds from Toppenish, Washington (close to Yakima)

Look who turned 20, yes I made my own cake

Montese Zone, this last transfer

Video of my Companion, yeah thats right MY companion a movie star!..

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/six-brothers?lang=eng

So lets start with it all, that I am staying the area.  Yes, when I finish this next transfer (March 12) I will have passed 7 months in the area (Good night nurse). I am actually pretty content with it all.  I wasn´t sad that I was leaving nor that I was staying nor did I have to pack my suit cases which is always nice.  I was actually a little shocked with the phone call and had to have our zone leader read it again and again to me of what was going to happen.  But its all good I will start with it all...Elder Nabas and I worked hard this week finding new people and working with Cristano some more.  I was thinking alot walking down a lot of the streets, ´´I can´t believe that I will leave´´.  I was probably only jinxing myself.  Elder Nabas was telling most members and investigators that I was leaving so the goodbyes started early.  It was funny week.  We taught alot of good people and I made new friends with a drunk man that knows my name, where I am from, and my birthday,  he seemed to memorize things alot faster.  Up until Thursday during the week it was pretty uneventful.  Thursday nights usually means the night when President Souza calls the missionaries to let them know that they will train or have another leadership oppurtunity in the mission.  We weren´t expecting anything to big or anything just playing it by ear.  I was still in the zone of leaving the area.  When we were walking down to our weekly ward activity we had our cell phone and the call came in.  Elder Nabas was talking and just kept saying ´´Uh huh, ok, great, thanks President´´ it was funny because he looked like he was about to fall over.  When I heard ´´Tchau´´  I figured it was over.  But Elder Nabas passed the phone to me ´´He wants to talk to you Elder.´´  I was laughing a little bit and had to look at the phone about 3 times.  I talked with President for about 1 minute and all I heard was ´´Hello Elder N. Anderson, how are you, are you happy, are you doing well?. . .Elder, I would like to call you as Seceretary of References of the Mission.´´  I started laughing a little bit and President just says ´´Elder why are you laughing?´´  I kinda froze and just said that I laugh when I am happy.  President had a nice laugh and said goodbye.  From that point Elder Nabas was called to open an Area and train.  I was called as Seceratary and I would stay in Expedicionários.  I will probably have a more busy schedule than I thought.  I will work in the area about 4 days a week and in the office 2 days.  I am pretty excited, I worked with Elder Howland (SLC, Utah) in the same district a few transfers back and Elder Loureiro is from my group (Fluent English Speaker from São Paulo).  My new companion as well is Elder Reynolds from Washington.  He has been out for 6 months and we met a few transfers back.  He was actually trained by Elder Graff my first companion here in Expedicionários.  We were good friends from the get go when I met him.  So it makes things more exciting for the transfer.  As for my birthday I had a suprise party waiting for at a members house and another party at another members house.  Lots of cake and lots of funny people wishing me a happy birthday.  There was also lots of cake and lots of funny little things that made the day good.  It will be a lot more busy and alot more work this transfer, but I am excited.  I was thinking about a few more goals that I have for this transfer and how things will definatly be different.  This transfer I will be expecting my one year mark (YEAH!), carnival, and a lot of laughs along the way.  I have recently learned the importance of sincere prayer and always doing something better to help yourself grow. 

I love you all, have a good week.

Elder N. Anderson 

Jan. 22, 2012 With Pictures

Jan. 22, 2012 With Pictures

Pictures:

Just a another goofy smile.

Elder H. Silva, another Elder in My district getting ready for his baptism.

Baptism of Cristiano, Sunday Jan. 22 2012

Hello to all!

So I attached some pictures for you all to see from our baptism last night.  This week was one that I will look back on after the mission and think ´´Whoa, I can´t believe that happend.´´  It was a long, hard working week that was well worth a journal entry ;) Starting this last week, we planned on visiting Cristiano everyday.  He is a boyfriend of a member who just started coming back to church at the beginning of the new year.  He is 25 and had a few questions about the church, up until he he went last week.  We talked about getting a response from going to church and he said he had one, when we went to talk with him on Tuesday.  We asked him what he thought and he said there was something different about the church.  He said he had a feeling of being comfortable the minute he walked in.   We left a few things for him to read in the Book of Mormon and he read them all on Tuesday night.  The rest of the week was teaching and preparing him for baptism.  We asked him what he thought about a baptism this week and his response was excellent.  ´´I know I can´t learn everything, but I am willing to do this, because I know its true.´´  I was a good experience teaching him and learning more about him.  If this was the only miracle of this transfer then I would be satisfied with it.  I talked with our Zone Leader´s and they said that he just flew through the interview.  He knew everything and we prepared.  Sunday we announced the baptism and we had a lot of people excited to come.  He will be confirmed this week.  There is always something special about doing the ordinance.  The first reaction when you lift them out of the water and the huge smile that comes across their face.  I think Cristano had a good smile because the water was nice and brisk.  As for me, I am doing really good.  It was a little rainy this week during the mornings which made the afternoons nice, hot, and humid.   I was sweating machine.  I look back on this week and see how it was all worth it to work with Cristiano.  The little time that I knew him but the fact that he trusted us right away.  This is the last week of the transfer.  Thats right 5 of 6 weeks came and gone already.  I will probably be transfered. I am 98% that I will leave and head to another area.  I am not sure if I will stay here in Fortaleza or head to another city more on the coast or interior.  We will get the phone call on Friday night and head to the transfer a week from today.  This is my 5th month in the area and President made it sound like I would be leaving.  As for age, yes thats right the big 20! this SATURDAY!    I was thinking if 40 means ´´over the hill´´ then what does 20 mean, half way up?  I asked my companion and he said ´´Whats over the hill?´´  I geuss its only a phrase in english. haha.  I have told a few people that its my birthday but I am not planning on doing anything to big, probably just light some fireworks or something ;)  I have seen the difference that the mission has made in one year.  How the first 20 years were all about growing, and these two (practically one) are to use everything I have ever learned to change the lives of others.  I am grateful for this year and I geuss just another to go.   I know that this work is true, that lives are blessed everyday from the missionaries that leave their normal lives to bless those of others.

Hope you are all doing well, have a good day!

Love,

Elder N. Anderson

100 Percent Better

I was thinking about a lot of things since last Monday about how I wanted this last week to be a lot better.  We had to plans and goals to make it that way.  It was interesting how everything for us changed compeletly  this last week.  It was 100 percent better.  On Tuesday we another division with a few Elders in our district.  I worked with Elder Conseção an Elder that has been out for a little over a year and is from Belém (Bethlehem in Portuguese haha)  He kinda looks like a Native American and everyone calls him an Indian.  I had a lot of fun asking him a lot of questions about his city and what its like.  Sounds like this city is completely different than here.  I have learned that culture in Brasil is crazy.  There is so much!  Every city or region of the country is different.  Kinda like that U.S.  For most of the week it was normal.  Elder Nabas and I were deteremind to have a better week of teaching.  We taught a lot of people our age which made it nice.  I always feel like it its cool to teach people our age because I can relate to them more.  We taught 3 14-year old boys that had tons of questions about being a missionary.  It made it even better when I asked one of the kids ´´who was Jesus Christ?´´ his response ´´That guy who killed himself for us´´  Not exactly the response that I was looking for or had ever heard in my life but I had a good laugh when we left the house. Sometimes it seems easier to teach kids around the same age or younger.  I know what they are thinking because I was that age at one time also.  We were running behind (portuguese phrase)  a baptism that didn´t go throught unfortunatly.  The people went out of town on Friday which was kind of a bummer.  This week was way better.  Filled with funny little experience that make the mission fun, hard,and rewarding.  Friday I had another interview with President.  When I sat down in the chair, he was just looking at me for what I thought was 10 minutes.  We had a good chat about how for me the mission will probably be a lot different for me after this transfer.  I will most likely leave this area and not exactly sure where I will go.  I was trying to look for little hints from President but couldn´t tell. Sometimes its harder in portuguese haha.  President had a good amount of questions about family, liking the mission, and how it is all going to make the  difference in my life and those that are in my life.  I came away from the interview a excited and ready for another adventure.  I plan to just finish the next two weeks strong and do my best, in the end thats what matters most right?I saw  a newspaper with the weather reports.  Turns out that its raining everywhere else in Brasil with flooding except the southern most parts and NorthEast aka Fortaleza, go figure.  It is still plenty hot everyday and I still sweat a good ton.  I am ready for the ´´rainy season´´. I can see how the mission has made the difference in my life as of now.  I see how there has been a lot of change and how I feel like now I am ready to face more oppurtunities with a head held up high.  I am grateful for this place, the people and every experiece I have had.  I am grateful to know that we have a savior, named Jesus Christ.  One who SACRIFICED his life willingly for all of us.  I know that God lives and he loves all of us.  I hope you are doing well this week. 

Have a good week, Love you all!

Elder N. Anderson