June 16, 2009 - 2nd e-mail * Parental disclaimer... I have edited for spelling and punctuation but not for content. You're welcome! Konni

Hey fam! First off, Elder Lytle was in my mission prep class. He isn't in my zone though, so I don't see him much. He is cool. I'll answer dad's questions. First, I am in the CTM for 9 weeks. Tomorow will finish up our 3rd week. Both of my companions are going to Salvador Sul (that's South in "pork and cheese"*family term for portuguese. and 4 other guys are going with us.

A regular day here consists of:

Getting up at 6: 30, getting ready breakfast at 7, personal study from 7 :30 till 8, companion study from 8 to 8: 30, then class from 8:30 to 11:45, which is mainly" pork and cheese" but also Preach My Gospel and learning lessons in English. Then lunch. Then MDST missionary directed study time. It's just us in a class room with no teacher studying whatever you want to. Then most days we have gym time for an hour but some days not up until dinner at about 4:15. Then we go straight back to class with a different teacher where we learn more "pork and cheese" and some gospel stuff until 9. Then we plan for the next day till 9: 15. Get ready for bed, quiet time from 10 to 10: 30. Lights out at 10: 30. Do it again. What I like about class is, it's only 12 of us in a room so it's not a huge class. We get lots of one on one time if we need it. The language is going ... I wish it was coming faster but at the same time it's pretty amazing how much we've learned in 3 weeks. Sundays we get up, get ready, go to breakfast and have church from 8 till 11. Then we have free time til lunch, then free time til dinner and then a fireside every Sunday night at 7. We have probably 3 firesides a week. It's pretty cool. They are all really good. We listened to the most powerful talk I've ever heard, by Elder Holland. I think it's only for missionaries but if you guys can find it, I would strongly suggest it. It was all about missionary work, but he had had a long day and was tired and was just giving it to us straight. I've never heard anybody yell at us like that. Ha! It was a good yell though. He said, if you don't like all the rules then start your own church! He had tons of quotes like that but the power that he spoke with I'll never forget. He said I'm here to talk to you missionaries. We're behind closed doors so I'm gonna tell you like it is. It was amazing.

Thank you so much for all the letters, you don't know how much they mean to me . We look forward to mail more then anything. We have Brazilian roommates that are so fun and cool. One of them speaks perfect english and loves to skate board. We have become real close. He helps us with the "pork and cheese" alot. He wants me to come to his wedding really bad after the mission. and he wants to bring his family to America too. I told him they would have a place to stay in washington and he couldn't believe we would do that. I love him. Every tuesday, we are free to go out on the town, so it's way fun. We go buy candy and stuff. It's fun to go out into the real world. I'm taking pictures but I think it will be easier to send them once I'm out in the field. There is always a line for email here cause we can't e mail in the ctm. We have to go to the store next door. Please send pics in the mail to cause I can't print these off here. I love you all so much and pray for you all every night individually. My prayers have never been heard more, I know that. I love you all so so much and miss you tons. I realize how fast this 2 years is going to go. I can't wait to get out in the field and work with the people. I love and miss you all! Take care, can't wait to e mail you next week. love elder anderson

Date: Jun 9, 2009 8:41 AM
Hey family! Sorry I didn't get a real e-mail off last week. The line was so long and I didn't know how it all worked, so I didn't end up having any time. How are things going? Things are going really good here! First off, I can email once a week so I will and I can send letters once a week, so I will. Thank you so much for the letters I have gotten from you. Mail is so exciting here. I never thought I'd want mail so much. Brazil is so cool. It took some time getting used to the humidity but I am now. The day I got here it was 100 deg F. It was nuts. The CTM is kinda hard cause you work work work and not much free time to ourselves. I really like my companions though. Elder Newey and Elder Hadley. Newey is from california right near Brenna and the other is from Ogden, Utah. Me and him get along really good. He is really tall and good at b-ball. We have gym about 5 days a week so we play alot of ball here. I love it. There are only about 200 guys here so everybody knows everybody. It's way cool . We just got 3 Brazilian roommates that are so funny and cool. They are helping us with the language a lot. One of them speaks perfect english and the rest don't speak any, so it kinda works out nice. This morning we went to the temple. We went last week too. It's a really pretty temple. I like it a lot and it sounds like we're gonna get to go almost every week. On p days we get to walk around the city and buy things. It's really fun. I love the people here and just the over all feel of the city here. As far as you can see is just solid sky scrapers for miles and miles. I've never seen anything like it. "Pork and cheese" (which is what our family calls portugese) isn't so easy, but I'm working on it hard and its slowly coming. I can make simple sentences and pray and bear testimony, so that's fun. I just found out how to send pictures so I will do that next week. I'm loving it and growing so much spiritually and physically. I pray for you all every night. My prayers have never been as sincere as they are now. I know that I need the Lord and I know that He's helping me. I love you all so much.
love Elder Anderson.
PS. I'm already sick of beans and rice... every stinkin' meal. There is no american food here at all but its not too bad. The juice and fruit are amazing and sometimes the meat is real good and sometimes its not. Ha! Anyways, love you. Give my e- mail to Kimbo and stuff. I can't wait to hear from you all.