Conference with Elder Evans

Dear Family,

This week two awesome things happened; Elder Evans came to our mission and gave some trainings, and I played the piano at a wedding hahaha.  Yeah last night we were here in the office and there was a wedding that was going to happen upstairs (above the mission office is a chapel where a ward meets on sundays).  Anyways there was going to be a wedding but they didn´t have anyone to play the piano!  So they came down stairs and asked if anyone played the piano.  I said that I didn´t know how to play very well but that one of my old companions had taught me a rascal flatts song on the piano.  The lady said, well Elder at this point we´ll take just about anything we can get hahaha.  So I went up there and played the piano while the bride and the groom walked in hahaha.  I think that is going to be my last performance as a pianist haha. 

The second awesome thing was that Elder Evans came and visited our mission.  On Saturday he did a special training in the stake center near the São Paulo temple.  This training was for the Zone Leaders, Sister Leaders, Assistants, and Mission Presidents from the mission São Paulo East, North, West, South, and Interlagos.  It was a really cool training and Elder Evans stressed the importance of baptizing quality people who are planning on staying firm in the church.  He explained that our purpose is to help people to endure to the end.  And that for us the "end" is when they pass through the temple and especially when they are sealed as a family.  This is the end for which we work, not just baptism in the church but for eternal life.  Then this morning he had a meeting with our whole mission.  It was a really great meeting and I learned a lot of things.  Sister Evans talked about importance of families and then Elder Evans spoke on our purpose as missionaries.  One thing that I really liked was that he said our goal is to help seal families.  We don´t teach just for baptism but also for faith, repentance, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  It was a really great conference.  Other than that it was a pretty normal week.  We spent quite a bit of time preparing for the visit from Elder Evans.  This next week we are going to start preparing the transfers so its going to be a full week!

 

Love you all!  The church is true!!

-Elder Caleb Anderson 

Visit to Vila Galvão

Dear Family,

This week was a good week.  We did a lot more interviews and gave a few more trainings.  The highlight of this week though was on Sunday.  President Ferrin decided to visit the ward Vila Galvão to watch sacrament meeting and then watch a baptism afterward and I was able to go with him.  It was AWESOME to see my first area again.  It felt like I was back home again.  All the members are doing super well.  And when I walked in I saw one of the young men that I baptized, Yago, passing the sacrament.  It was really great to see some of the recent converts and see how much the ward has changed but is still the same.  Vila Galvão has a special spirit and I really enjoyed being there to see sacrament meeting and watch the baptism as well.  I am really grateful for the opportunity that I have had to meet so many different people here and the mission and make friendships that will last for eternity.  It was really awesome to see the change that took place in the lives of some of the recent converts.  I was really glad to be able to go back and see some of the fruits of my labor.  I don´t have much time because in about 10 minutes President Ferrin is going to pass by here to pick up Elder Caetano and I and then we are off to do more interviews!  So I am going to wrap it up for this week!  I love you all and thank you once more for the prayers, letters, and support!

 

Love,

Elder Caleb Anderson

Week of Interviews

Dear Family,

This week was a good week full of interviews!!  President Ferrin did interviews from Tuesday through Friday in different zones.  He is a man of steel!!  He starts interviewing every day at 9 and doesn´t stop until around 6ish, sometimes later!  During that time we give our trainings.  I am giving a training about conversion and repentance.  How to help investigators truly repent and be converted before baptism.  I have definitely seen that being a mission president is NOT an easy job.  I am working really hard to be a good assistant.  Lately I have been focusing my studies in a few topics.  The atonement and the power of faith.  Everything starts with faith and everything in the end comes down to faith.  I came across a quote by Boyd K. Packer on faith that I really like.  

"Faith, to be faith, must center around somthing that is not known.  Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence.  Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown.  Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness.  If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then tehre is no need for faith.  Indeed, there is no room for it." 

Faith is believing in things that we cannot see but that are true.  However in order for us to have faith we do need to take a few steps into the dark and then God will turn on the lights.  This applies to investigators in a huge way but also to us as members.  Whenever we have callings or trials in life we need to move forward with faith even if it feels like we are walking in the dark.  However we can trust that God will turn the lights on and give us the help that we need.  Love you guys and hope that you all have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Caleb Anderson

Life in the Office

Dear Family,

This week was a great week.  We did a couple days of interviews. Today was super crazy though and I didn´t really get a P-day.  It is just now that I am able to write the email.  Today we had an emergency transfer which messed with around 16 or 17 missionaries.  So we were busy with that all day and now is the first time that things have kind of slowed down.  However here in the office there is no rest for the weary, tomorrow morning we are all heading out early so that President can interview the missionaries in the zone Itaquera.  So tomorrow we will be really busy too.  I have been studying this week the importance of the atonement.  I have been stunned by how INFINITE Christ´s atonement for us is.  As human beings we can´t comprehend infinity.  There is no way for us to imagine an infinite sacrifice which involved an infinite number of people, infinite number of sins, that would last for infinity, and which required infinite pain.  The atonement serves to heal us, clean us, and lift us up.  I am very grateful for the Savior´s atonement and for the opportunity that I have to learn about it more and understand if better here on the mission.  I love you guys and hope that you all have a great week!!  Thanks as always for the emails, support, and prayers.

 

Love you all!

-Elder Caleb Anderson

First Week in the Office

Dear Family,

Thanks again for all of the emails and letters.  This week was my first week working in the mission office.  Working here in the office is a lot different than working in the field.  This past week we just worked here in the office, we didn´t get the chance to work  in the field.  However I´m getting used to being here in the office and am really learning a lot.  I am really enjoying the chance to work closer with President Ferrin, he is inspired and REALLY smart.  I have already learned a lot here and am looking forward to learning even more.  Some people asked me what my responsiblities are and basically I am here to do whatever President tells me to do haha.  But some standard things are to give trainings to the mission, give trainings to the zone leaders, help resolve problems that the missionaries have, and help with the transfers.  This last week we stayed pretty busy because of the transfers on Tuesday.  And also we had to prepare for the interviews that are coming up.  For at least the next three weeks President Ferrin will be going around the mission interviewing every single missionary and we are responsible for going with him and giving trainings to the missionaries.  So that will keep us busy for a little while haha.  My companion is Elder Caetano!!  We were already companions once when we were zone leaders in Taubaté and now we´re companions again haha.  It´s pretty cool since I already know him well.  Well that´s about all I have for this week.  I know that the church is true and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God and this church is the only church that has the priesthood authority to perform God´s ordinances.  As we continue learning about and follow our Savior Jesus Christ, we can qualify for the redemption that comes through His atoning sacrifice for us.  Love you guys and hope you have a good week!!

 

-Elder Caleb Anderson