Dear Family,

This week was good. We are teaching some great investigators and we had the baptism of Iago yesterday. It was a really good and the Spirit was very strong at the service. We are teaching a lot of really good people but sometimes struggle with getting them to church. Yesterday was especially difficult because the Corinthians (my soccer team) were playing for the world championship and won!! The game started at 8:15 A.M. and church starts at 9... We new it was going to be rough when we woke up to a bunch of loud fireworks at 6:20 A.M.. There were pretty much constant fireworks going on after that for the rest of the day. We walked to church and lots of people were in the streets with Corinthians flags shouting. It really wasn´t the best time for me because the Corinthians were playing Chelsea (a team from London) for the world championship and all the fanatics in the street thought that I was from England haha. As a matter of fact Elder Bangerter got shouted at a few times by Corinthians fans telling us to go back to England hahahaha. The Corinthians ended up winning 1x0 and when they scored their goal the whole city erupted in cheers and fireworks. It was crazy. We were all in church when the game ended and the whole church building was shaking because of all the noise and the fireworks that were being set off outside. It was nuts. Other than that I don´t have a whole lot of news for this week. We are preparing for Christmas and getting all of our plans set up. I can´t remember if I wrote this in the last email but Elder Bangerter and I bought a little plastic Christmas Tree and decorated it and are planning on putting our packages under it to open on Christmas day. It is no taller than a foot and a half but we decorated it and its pretty funny to look at. We also have our mission Christmas celebration on wednesday and we are doing a white elephant gift exchange with the whole mission so that should be fun.

The work in in Vila Galvão continues to progress as God continues to put people in our path who are ready for the Gospel. I am always amazed at the trust that God has in us every time he puts someone in our path for us to teach. We are having a lot of success and I am really seeing the hand of the Lord in the work. The ward is growing stronger and our recent converts are progressing. A few have already received the priesthood and they are all strengthening their testimonies little by little. It is really awesome for me to see them in church on Sundays. I think for me seeing them at church every Sunday and seeing them answering questions in class or receiving the priesthood is even better than seeing them in the baptismal font.

That´s all I have for this week! I hope everyone is doing well back home and everyone is feeling the Spirit of Christmas!!

 

Hope everything is going well for you guys and thanks a lot for the emails and packages!

Love,

Elder Caleb Anderson

Phone Call Coming Tonight

Dear Family,

This week was a good last week of the transfers. We will get a phone call tonight from the Zone Leaders telling us if one of us is leaving the area so its possible that today might be my last day with Elder Bangerter. We finished off this week with a baptism yesterday of Rafael (19 years old). He is the cousin of a youth in our ward and we met him at a church activity with his cousin. At first he had some problems with smoking but he was able to overcome his smoking addiction and be baptized yesterday. It was a great baptism, he´s made a lot of mistakes in the past but he was very excited to be baptized and have the chance to start all over and do better this time. Another highlight of the week was a family night that we had at a members house on Friday. We had a family night with an active member family in our ward, two inactive members of the ward, and our investigator named Iago who we have been working with for a long time. Iago received a really strong answer about two months ago that the church was true and that he needed to be baptized. However he has never felt that he is ready for baptism. At the family night we read the story of Christ´s birth in Luke 2 and then we watched the video ´´Finding Faith in Christ´´ about the life of Jesus Christ and the miracles that he performed. Afterwards we bore our testimonies about our Savior Jesus Christ. The Spirit was ver strong and the two inactive members committed to go to church on Sunday and Iago committed to do the baptismal interview. Iago took the interview yesterday and passed so he will be baptized this week. It was a really great family night and really significant for us because we have been working with Iago ever since I got to this area 3 months ago.

Do they have Christmas in Brazil/ What is it like? Yes they definitely have Christmas here but it is not quite the same thing as in the United States. Most families don´t do Christmas trees although some families have the tiny plastic ones. I haven´t seen too many Christmas lights or decorations although every once in a while a house will have them. I don´t know what it´s going to be like on Christmas day but I except all the stores will shut down and everything. I can´t wait for Christmas!! We will have a mission Christmas celebration on the 19th. The whole mission will spend the P-day together and President has different activities planned out. Should be really fun.

That´s about all that I have for this week! Thanks a lot for your emails, letters, and packages!

 

Love,

Elder Caleb Anderson

 

 

We got an email a little later saying that neither Caleb nor Elder Bangerter got transferred, so they will be together for a few more weeks at least!

Another Great Week in Vila Galvão

Dear Family,

Thank you for you letters and your encouragement. This week was another great week here in Vila Galvão. The highlight of the week were our baptisms yesterday of Flavio and his son Rian. They are 2 more of God´s elects that are starting down the right path. I will include their story at the end. The work is going well here. All of our baptisms here have been great experiences and each one of them has an amazing story. I can´t believe it´s already December. A week from today we will find out about the transfers!! I really hope that Elder Bangerter and I both get to stay here in Vila Galvão but I think the chances are slim. I think one of us will leave and it will probably be Elder Bangerter. Which is too bad, we´ve had a lot of success here in Vila Galvão and I still feel like we have a lot of work to do. However I think we have built up some momentum here in this ward and if one of us leaves next week the new Elder will be coming into a good situation. Today is P-day and I think we are going to the stake center to play soccer with the other missionaries and some investigators. It´s going to be fun and I think will do Americans vs. Brazilians as usual. Us Americans actually do pretty well against the Brazilians, I´d say it´s about even. Other than that I don´t have too much news for this week. Here are the stories of the amazing baptisms.

Yesterday we had two more baptisms of Flavio and his son Rian. We found Flavio last week when we baptized his son Wanderley. During the baptism he said that God had touched his heart and that he will definitely be baptized one day as well. On Tuesday we went by his house and talked to him and he told us about how 3 years ago he was in a very bad car accident and suffered a severe head injury. He was dead for 5 minutes, all of his family had given up and were on the side of the road crying because they thought he had died. He said that after 5 minutes he miraculously woke, was rushed to the hospital, had his head sown back together, and recovered. After we tought him the Gospel of Jesus Christ he said that he knew God saved his live because he has a purpose here on this earth and that he believes baptism is part of that purpose. He thanked us and told us that God had sent us to him to help him fulfill his mission in life. Yesterday he was baptized with his son Rian and next week he will be confirmed with Rian and his other son Wanderley who we baptized last week. He is a great investigator and you can´t ask for a better baptism than that.

 

Thanks again for all of your emails, letters and packages!

Love,

Elder Caleb Anderson