Photos:
´´Hump Day´´ :)
Baptism this weekend. Val and Bruno (Mother and Son)
Baptism this weekend of Gleubeino
A nice salute
ROOT BEER!
This is it! right? One year over, 365 days terminated, 52 of 104 weeks completed, the big hump! WOW! I can only think ´´Onde está o tempo!?´´ I kinda feel old now that I think about it, Old in the sense that its all down hill from here even though I still feel like I just arrived yesterday. The fact that I am passing one year this week, just means I still have one more year to keep moving, to keep pushing, until that time I get on the airplane. I´m not ´´trunky´´ as some would say just happy and excited for whats next in line. March 2nd 2011 seems like it was yesterday, but March 2013 seems so far away still :) Alright enough of this, lets get busy.
So this week seemed pretty busy for us. I stil find myself super busy working in the office. It actually seems pretty time comsuming now that I think about. I have a cell phone that rings constantly asking directions for a street or getting information for a reference. I have become a master on Googlemaps as well as LDS maps. I find myself memorizing neighborhoods, ward boundaries, and so forth to the point when someone calls in, I usually have a pretty good idea of where this reference will go. Elder Howland, Elder Loureiro and I are finding more time to sleep at night and finding more random things to make after we get home at night. Yesterday we made some rootbeer, yes thats right home made! It was pretty good actually. I think my sense of taste of root beer has basically been lost, So I am still counting on someone having a Henry Wienharts waiting for me at the airport :) We have also found Bar-B-Que sauce down here at one store. Another thing I haven´t seen in awhile so we use it on almost anything. I got creative last night and put in on scrambled eggs. Its an ´´aquired´´ taste but It wasn´t so bad when I finished up. When I saw it at the store it was one of the ´´double take´´ moments, ya know? when you look at something twice just to make sure its the right thing. It was pretty cheap actually and american for sure. The label on the back was in all english, accept for the portuguese nutrition sticker covering the english. There seems to be alot of those around here. I have really missed alot of things since being here. Speaking of food actually, we went out to each a couple times this week for lunch. There is a member that owns a restaurant close to the office who gives discounts to the missionaries. Its ´´buffet´´ style place that keeps the missionaries full for sure. I came out of the restaurant a little larger. I figured ´´ How often do you eat at an all you can eat?´´ am I right? We all looked like bowling balls coming down the street.
As for the work, we did our best of getting out of the office everyday by 6pm. When everyone is on board it makes things alot more easier. We did a division this week with some other Elders. Elder Loureiro and I worked with an Elder who has a little bit under 7 months on the mission. Elder McNeal from the nonother.. Beaverton, Oregon. I actually was good buddies with his cousin in the MTC. It was fun working with him and finishing teaching a kid that was baptized this weekend. Our focus was on Val and Bruno, a mother and son that have been investigating the church for a while. Elder Howland and Elder Loureiro have been teaching here for a while so it was nice coming in to the area and helping them as best as I could. Last monday, we called Val, and her last comment on the phone was, I want to talk about this baptism thing this week with you three. We held the baptism on Friday night with a lot of ward members. It was pretty cool, just seeing that smile on someone face everytime, makes it all worth it. Gleubeino(14 year old) was a reference that we recevied this week. He was going to another ward but never had the chance to be baptized. The other missionaries that were in the ward, thought he was a member already. We taught him this whole week and on Thursday we was asking when he could get baptized. We had the green light for Sunday and the font was already filled, so the service was held Sunday night. We did have miner complications trying to drain the font. Unfortuntly the pump that drains the font was ´´broken´´ so we first tried to siphon the water out. After a few ´´winded´´ missionaries, we did the bucket method of filling the buckets and throwing out the water. That lasted for about 10 minutes when a member went outside to check the pump and gave a few ´´kicks´´and the water was drained before we knew it.
We, my companions and I, have become pretty notorious here in the mission. President likes to call us the ´´trio´´ and usually we try to keep things happy and exciting here in the office. We even decided to call up the assistants and go suprise President today for his birthday. Sister Souza was already in on the whole thing. We walked in to their house and went straight for his office with a cake singing happy birthday. We ended up staying for lunch, because who wants to turn down a free meal. President seemed pretty happy which was fun. He was suprised for sure which made things nice. Being at the their home, reminded me alot of going to visit Grandpa and Grandma McCunce in Chile. They have ´´mission home´´ look to their apartment.
So as for me, I feel confident and saying that I love this work. I love what I am doing and how I see the difference it is making in my life. I feel lke I say that alot but its true. This last year has meant alot to me. I can´t thank you all enough, for your support and for the prayers. I know that this work is true. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is his son. I am so grateful for this wonderful oppurtunity to be a missionary. To be apart of the miracles that take place in the lives of others. There is nothing that I would rather be doing. It is difficult, but the reward is greater.
365 days, thats nothing :)
I love you all,
Elder N. Anderson
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