Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Mountains, Monkeys, and Priests

Dear Family,
 
Thanks a lot for the emails.  I hope that you are all well.  Things here in Taubaté are going well.  We are still working hard and we know that soon we will recieve the blessings.  Things are already starting to get a little bit better.  This week was pretty fun.  Today we just got back from a really cool zone p-day.  The whole zone went to an area called Lorena.  In this area we had a member take us on a hike in the mountains.  It was REALLY awesome.  I took a ton of pictures and will try and send them in the email next week.  The computer that I am using right now is really slow.  It was a really fun p-day.  We hiked the mountain and then at the top had a picnic.  As this week was cool because Elder Zancheta and I were walking on the street and on the side of the road there was a baby monkey.  It was the first time in my life that I saw a wild monkey!  We heard the mom making noise in the trees on the other side of the street.  I think that the baby monkey had fallen out of the tree and crossed the street.  Another cool thing that happened this week is that during the week one of the members came up to us in the church and gave us a reference.  Just that when she gave us the reference she said, you will have to visit him at the university because teaching him at his house is complicated.  We asked if he studied in the university and she said ´´no he´s a professor´´ ´´what does he teach?´´ ´´um...he teaches theology and philosophy...hope you guys are prepared for this´´ hahaha.  At that point we were a little bit nervous however we called up the man and set an appointment with him to teach him at the university during the week.  On the phone he was very nice and said that his name was Cleber.  We showed up and the university for the appointment and noticed that the university was a catholic university.  We went to reception and told the woman that we had an appointment with Cleber the woman responded ´´oh you mean Padre Cleber?´´  That was when we realized that Cleber was not only a theology and philosophy professor but was also a Catholic Priest!!  The reason it was complicated for us to visit him in his house is because he lives in a convent!!  He received us very well and told us that he studied religion for 7 years in Germany, and that while he was in Germany the missionaries had visited him a few times.  He said that only reason he hadn´t been to our church yet is because he didn´t know that our church had a building in Taubaté.  He said that he often enters into the church website and that he reads the liahona every month.  He already new a TON about the church.  We taught him the restoration and he listened quietely the whole lesson.  At the end we said ´´do you have any questions?´´ he said ´´I have many questions but I will only ask a few´´ haha.  He asked us a couple basic questions and then said that this coming Sunday he will come to church with us.  Should be interesting! haha.  That´s all for this week.  I hope that you are all well!
 
Love you all!
 
-Elder Anderson

Monday, November 11, 2013

Taubaté

Dear Family,

This week was a good week.  Things are still a little tough as far as the work is concerned but Elder Zancheta and I have faith that things will soon improve.  We are learning ever day about things that we need to improve in order to work better and have more success.  We are trying our best to work hard every day and be obedient, but still find ways to have fun during the day.  Right now we have an elder living in our house from Argentina named Elder Martinez and he is SUPER funny.  He is a short, fat, guy from Argentina who speaks Portuguese with a really strong spanish accent.  He´s always messing around and it makes for a fun time in the house.  Other than that there´s not much new to report.  Here in Taubaté there is really good Açaí.  I don´t know if I´ve already written home about açaí but it´s a fruit that grows in the amazons.  Anyways this fruit is small and purple and here they make really good ice cream and juice out of it.  It is really, really good and it gives you a lot of energy when you eat it.  Here farther away from the city you can buy really good quality açaí for really cheap.  It is one more perk to serving far away from the city.  Love you all and hope that you are well!  Thanks for all of your prayers and support!
 
Love,

Elder Anderson

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Halloween!

Dear Family,
 
This week was a good week.  Things are starting to improve here in the work and in the zone.  My new companion is Elder Zancheta from southern Brazil.  He is AWESOME!!  Ever since he got to the ward it seems like a spark hit our area.  And things are starting to go better.  Today we did a zone P-Day and I don´t have time to write a really detailed email.  Elder Zancheta and I got the whole zone together and we did a churrasco with basketball and volleyball and stuff.  It was really fun and it helps get the missionaries in the zone more excited and have more unity in the zones.  However things are going well here in Taubaté and I appreciate your emails that you guys sent me.  Sorry that I can´t write more!
 
Love you all,
 
Elder Caleb Anderson