So Family,

I was transferred to the area, Brasil in (Victoria Da) Conquista. I got here today and my companion is Elder de Lima. He arrived in the same group as Elder Almeida. He is really small and makes Mario noises... but I’m sure it will be a good transfer.

The area seems really cool and there’s an actual ward here, with a Bishop. So, I’m excited to work here. Elder Sanderson is close to me. I’m not sure if he is in my district yet or not because the whole mission got turned upside down. A whole zone got closed and now part of it is in our zone, so no one even knows anything yet.

All I know is that I got on a bus at 8:30 this morning and got here about 4 o’clock pm. I’m really learning to hate bus rides, but that’s part of it! Our house is one of the worst houses in the mission but it’s all good. I don’t care about nice houses or bugs or any of that anymore.

Holy smokes, I didn’t even know it was Father’s Day because they don’t have it here. So, sorry Dad... but happy Father’s Day! I’ll have to send you a letter. I’ll send it this week and the pictures too. I had to buy my own bus pass and stuff so that’s why I had to use the personal (debit) card. It hasn’t been stolen or anything.

So, Conquista is a lot cooler in temperature than any other city in Bahia which is good because I miss the cold. It’s only cold because it’s way high - like in altitude (about 2800 feet elevation). I hope its cold like everyone says. I bought a crochet hook so I can crochet hats, if it’s cold.

Getting here was cool. You just climb way up this mountain. It was like this little road in the jungle, climbing up this mountain. We were gaining altitude so fast that my ears were hurting and popping. I felt like I was entering Narnia or something but it was cool and it is actually a really big city - at least compared to Porto. I’m excited to work here. I hope you’re all doing well.

I love you

Note: We were able to ask Tim a few questions just after he sent this email before he got off the computer and here are his comments.

(We asked Tim about his companion, his current assignment and the members.)
My companion is learning English but he doesn’t speak a lot. I’m still the District Leader here. I just don’t know who all is in my district. I just know the sisters are for sure.... and yeah this place is a real ward with a bishop and stuff so I’m excited to work with a more organized place.

(Here we told Tim that the USA advanced in the World Cup Soccer Games, and asked if anyone was at church last week because Brazil’s game was on TV right during church.)
Yeah actually we had the important people there so that was good. But the USA moved on, woo hoo! That’s like the first time in history. Also we had a problem with the bathroom in the last house that we had to fix. I’ll get reimbursed for it but I’ve got no money right now so for a couple weeks I’m gonna have to take money off of the card. Is that ok?

(Finally, we asked Tim if he got any letters from home yet.)
Not yet. The whole mission is kinda not even knowing what’s happened yet but maybe in the next couple weeks I’ll get some when the LZs go to Salvador. We’ll see but thanks. Love you. Gotta go now. Tchau.

Dear Family,

So I have 15 minutes. I’ll try and write for ten and send a pic deal. Ok, so yeah, this week was cup of the world (World Cup Soccer Games). It’s nuts but the game was yesterday and Brasil won which was good cause I can’t imagine the riot it would of been if they didn’t. But it’s cool. Literally every street had banners hanging with the Brasil flag and its colors, and every street - I mean every street - has a huge flag painted on the street. They just block off the street and paint it and no one gets mad because it’s for the cup. And every other house is painted the colors of Brasil.... These people have never painted their houses – ever - and now they go buy all this paint to do up a nice Brazilian flag. Ha-ha, it's funny. So we got to watch the games but we have to be in the house of an investigator. The next game is right during our church meeting so it’s basically gonna be me and Elder Almeida ..... Ha, I hope at least the president of the branch will go... I hope.

Sounds like you guys are all busy. I can’t believe Monty already had 2 birthdays. That means I’ll be home for the next one! He is funny. I hope he didn’t eat that whole cake by himself ... cause I know that he can. So wait Justin will be a junior soon... holy smokes. I don’t believe it. I talk with Natalie and Mandy about every other week now ... it’s really good to hear from them.

So yeah the language is a lot better now. I still have on and off days but now every once in a while a person will think I’m a Brasilian. That always helps out the ego ya know. Ha, but it’s funny some people really freak out when they hear that I’ve only been studying for a year. It’s nice not to have that veil of not understanding. I'll never know everything or speak perfectly but it’s nice to not have to worry about that anymore. But I still need to learn a lot more and I hope I will. Being with Elder Almeida really did help a lot though. He speaks really fast and he stutters so now that I can understand him I can understand anybody, ha-ha. I always joke with him about that.

So we found a really really good family. The man of this family went to church Sunday and said that next week anyone who lives in his house is going to church. He is a really humble man with a really humble life but he wants to join the church and has a huge heart. He’s a hard worker and has a really humble life... just that we have to help him divorce his ex-wife and then marry him to his new wife... so the baptism will take a while but I’m sure it will happen one day. Anyways I’ll try and send a pic now.

Love you all, take care

Hey Family,

Sorry I haven’t been able to write so much these last couple weeks. I've always been on the rush and this week too, because I have to send the baptism info to the secretaries in Salvador and that takes a little bit of time. But yeah Sister Silmara was baptized and she was really tested too by Satan. Her family was freaking out about the baptism telling her that the church doesn’t believe in God and Jesus, and that we worship Joseph Smith and all sorts of stuff. But she said “I felt it’s true so I'm getting baptized”. She said if the bus would have broken she would of gone on foot to the baptism. It was really neat and spiritual.

We also had zone conference yesterday. It was really good to see President and all of the other elders even though no other elders from my group were there. That was kinda a bummer but oh well. Southworth was there and he is my brother so that was cool to talk with him a bit. He is in Weaver’s group. And yeah transfers are on the 20th so we’ll see what happens. I really think I will leave this time but who knows. I'm doing really good.

I’ll send a little story here about the baptism. So we got there a little early to make sure everything was all ready and some of the water drained out of the baptismal font… just a little bit… but I thought “no big”, I’ll just turn the water on and in 5 minutes, turn it off..... Well a little while later I was in the bathroom, and I noticed that water was starting to enter the bathroom under the door... then I remembered that the water was still turned on in the font.. and just my luck, the pump to drain the water broke... so we had to bucket the water out manually and then mop up all the water... It was a real ....trrrrrrrrrrrrreat! ha. And so to clean it up I took off my shoes and socks and rolled up my pant legs a little and everybody that walked by thought they were so funny and original telling me “Elder take off your socks.” ... implying that my white feet looked like socks ..... It’s not my fault these feet haven’t seen the sun in over a year. But it was kinda funny. After the 6th time and in the moment it wasn’t too funny, but now it kinda is. But I have to go now. I love you guys and hope everything is going good.

Love,

Elder Anderson

Hey Family!

So thanks for the video. He (Jacob, the new nephew) is so skinny compared to Monty ha and dad too... But I still haven’t seen a real good picture of him or Justin. You guys should make a video where you all say something real fast, so I can see how you have all changed. I mean it has been a whole year.

So that girl Silmara, she is gonna get baptized this Sunday!!! She is really excited. It was really cool. We were sitting with her just finishing a lesson and she said “Stop.” We shut our mouths and the spirit just hit us all so hard... I couldn’t even talk. I was just punched in the face by the spirit and then she said “I just got my answer that this is the church of Jesus Christ”. She looked at me and said “When am I getting baptized?” ... I muttered out “Sunday” and she said “Cool”. It was really neat. And Almeida I and already knew she would get an answer because she was sincere about knowing. It was really cool.

So that was a spiritual story; here is just kinda a funny one that just happened. We were walking down the street and a homeless man kindly asks us for money. We really didn’t even have 5 cents with us so we said "I’m sorry but we really don’t have anything" when he rudely yelled for the whole world to hear... “Mormons don’t give money to anybody. They’re sons of the devil”... hahahahahah. Ah man I wish you could of seen his face when he said it. It was so funny how his attitude changed.

I haven’t sent the drive (flash drive with pictures) yet... but I’ll make that a goal for this week... but like I said it took me a year just to put the pictures on it so it might be another year before it gets sent off. Ha, just kidding. I'll work on it. I love you guys. Take care.

Love,

Elder Anderson
beijo na bunda