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