August 25, 2010

Whoo hoo!! The picture sent and it only took 10 min! I can’t wait to use real internet again and in the comfort of our house too. Ha, but anyways, things are going really good here.

Yesterday, I bought some stuff to send home because the only way to send the pin drive is going to be in a little package. So, I will try and get that sent off this week. In my package... I think peanut butter and some good raspberry jam or strawberry jam would be delightful. (Konni is getting ready to send Tim a package and had asked what Tim was missing and would like). They don’t have peanut butter here or real jam. And just snacks, I guess. I don’t know, candy is always a treat.

So, this week we did a division with Elder Carvalho and the new Elder, Elder Forbush. It’s funny cause Elder Carvalho is as black as can be, so everybody in the ward calls them Bush and Barack Obama, hahaha! But poor Elder Forbush is suffering. He doesn’t speak any Portuguese but that’s just part of it. His trainer is suffering too cause he has to do everything and he can’t even talk with his comp - not even joke around because he doesn’t understand. So, when I was with Elder Carvalho, he just talked my ears off about everything. It was funny.

Oh, which reminds me. I ran out of head ache pills. Excedrin or whatever they’re called.
Things are going really good here. We have been working with this girl for 2 months and she has gone to church every week but she just was nervous to be baptized. We gave a really spiritual lesson with her and asked her, Argeskyvia, (that’s honestly her name) are you ready to take upon you the name of Christ, being baptized in his church? She looked at us and said yes. So, Saturday we have a really cool baptism! Unfortunately, this week is stake conference which means she won’t be confirmed until next Sunday. It will be cool too because a member of the 70 will be here for the stake conference. I don’t know who yet but I’ll know soon enough.
It’s been really cool. We have two really smart families that we are teaching that are really open and searching to find out if this is the true church. The bishop here is a really hard worker but he is really cold. I don’t know how to explain him but like half the ward is inactive because of him. He is a burner. If someone has been inactive for a while and then goes to church, he says "I’m glad to see you're here but one time a month won’t get you to the Celestial kingdom." Ha, he is brutal, but funny.

Thanks for the pictures. Looks like the high adventure went well. It was good to see a picture of Justin and dad... I don’t know which one is scrawnier... and Bishop and Bro. Greenhalgh and Curtis Start... hahahahaha!! I just remember when we were on the Salmon River and he tried at least 3 or 4 times to pull off a one and a half front flip dive and every time smashed his face on the water hahahahahaha! That was so funny.

Mom, how are Grammy and Pa doing? I hope you had a good trip. I can’t believe it’s already turning fall there. Seems like just yesterday it was starting to be summer. Well, I love you all and I hope Justin passed his driving test because if not he is probably crying like a little girl… :) Just kidding! (Just for your own curiosity, Justin is the newest Anderson with a driver’s license!!) I love you all, take care.

Love,

Elder Anderson

(While Tim was still on line, Mike asked Tim about Amanda and Elvis’ mother. Here is Tim’s reply.)

She is good. She loves the church. It’s just that she has some things she has to work out with her “husband”. It’s a difficult situation but she is good. They are going to move to São Paulo in about a month. Her kids are really active in the church. They go to every activity and we’re going to find out what chapel they will go to when they get there. I love you Dad. Hope you have a good day. My hour just ran out but thanks for everything.

August 18, 2010

Hey Family,

Thanks for the e mail and the pics. Looks like you all had fun. (at our reunion).
So, the internet is really slow today. I don’t think the picture will send, but I’ll try. I went to the post office three times trying to send the pin drive and I still haven’t got it sent off yet. But, I will. Every time I tried, there was a different problem but one of these days I’ll get her done. I wanna see pics of the yard too. The high adventure is this week? That’s exciting! What will you guys do? Will you climb chimney rock or did that not work out again? I’m sure whatever you guys do, it will be fun. Is Justin going to go? I know he is busy with tons of stuff.

So this week we had tons of changes happen in the mission because some new Americans arrived in the middle of the transfer. Elder de Lima and I stayed... but we received one of the “newbies” in our district so that was cool. We went and met him today ... he doesn’t speak a word of port but he seems like a nice guy. When we got there, his comp looked at me and said I’m going to have to learn English in two days or I don’t know what we’ll do! Ha, it was funny. They will do fine. .. but it is really hard not being able to talk with your companion. That’s just part of the mission.

So we’re doing well. Sounds like we got Weaver and Jones in our zone? I don’t know. We’ll have to see cause I heard that Elder Lemeraux got moved to our zone. I’m not sure yet, but it’s been a good week. Thanks for the pics again and I got three letters from mom today, so I’m gonna go home and read those. Thanks! Love you all.

Love,

Elder Anderson

Hey Family,

Thanks so much for the video and pictures. Monty is so funny. I watched it like 6 times. That’s why I’m almost out of time but I liked it a lot... almost cried when he said “Love you Uncle Tim”.... That was like a punch to the face, ya know - a good punch.

Sounds like the bike trip went well. That is a pretty manly bike (Tim is referring to a picture we sent him of a Boss Hoss motorcycle that is built on a Chevy 350 engine. It is huge.) ... I like how they literally built the bike around the engine. It literally is the frame of the bike. The only bikes we see around here are Honda 125s or 250s, but the other day I saw a guy test driving a GSXR 1000 and he tipped it over before he even moved a foot.. It was kinda funny.

So I will send the pictures today.. Amanda and Elvis did get baptized; it was a really good baptism. I’ll send the pictures here in a bit. The conference was also really cool. I like Conquista. It’s a really nice city. The only problem is because it’s a nicer city, the people are more closed to our message. It’s really hard to find investigators but when they are baptized, they stay more active - more like the US. I heard about both Zachs. That’s so cool that Nalder is back out and that Ames got his call. Tell him congrats for me. That’s so cool. And Justin, Happy B-day! Love you all. Got to go.

Love Elder Anderson

Note: Later Tim said he tried 3 times to send the picture, but it never came through.

Here is us in our charming home. ... I know you’re going to think this was taken in our house but believe it… we’re in Brasil!



August 4, 2010

So the big news about this transfer is that absolutely nothing changed!!! In my district that is; all 6 of us stayed. But something that is kinda cool that one of the sisters in my district Sister Moreas her brother got called to our mission too and he got here this week. Elder Jones is training him and this Friday we will have a conference with some area 70 and she will get to see her brother. Cool huh. I’m happy with the transfer. I knew that nothing would happen with us. Pres is only moving people when there is a necessity. And we’re all pretty new to our areas.

Thanks for the pictures. Justin really is growing up huh. Mom looks younger and Dad looks just way different. It’s funny. I almost cried to hear that Monty called me by name. I’m really excited to play with him and Jakob too. This week we will have 2 baptisms. They’re actually in the other ward and count as their baptisms but we found them, we taught them and we will even baptize them. They go to the other ward and everything like they’re supposed to but we’re just cooler. It’s the two kids of the woman whose husband died and she is still progressing too, it’s just that she has a few other steps to take before the baptism but she is really cool. I love this family a lot. Elvis and Amanda... Elvis is 14 and Amanda is 16. I know… the 2 most American names ever ha. But yeah we have a couple other families too that we’re teaching.

We found a guy that has a jeep that’s kinda like grandpa’s ... grandpa’s is cooler but I was in heaven. I was on the ground in my shirt and tie because he was showing me the new suspension and exhaust that he put on it then he said you want a ride to your house ... I didn’t even try and tell him that he didn’t need to do that. I just said yeah please ha it was fun.

So were doing good. I also can’t believe Justin will turn 16. This is the second birthday of his that will pass here in Brasil. I remember it as if it was yesterday planning with Elder Palmer and saying holy smokes it’s my brother’s birthday and that is happening again! That just means that the next one I’ll be there! So happy B-day Wennie Man! Next one I’ll be there and I’ve got 31 birthday spankings that I’ll owe you. So get ready. You look like you’re all doing good so thanks for the pictures and everything. Take care. I’ll try and send you a picture of us chilling in our house we took today so enjoy and Mom and Dad, congrats on your anniversary that’s commin up! Love you all. Take care

Here are the voice clips Tim sent in his last letter.

Hey Family,
So…um ...p-day was the other day and I made a voice recording but I think it was too long. I don’t know if it sent or not. One time it said it sent but the other time it didn’t, so I don’t know. So, we have to go print off the bulletin for a district meeting today and I’ll send this one off real fast. I’ll make it shorter so it will hopefully work. So, I’m sitting here making pancakes right now and we’re doing (you can hear pancakes flipping in the pan in the background) good. Pres. Vecchi and Sis. Vecchi visited us yesterday. They’re doing house inspections of the whole mission. Our houses are well, it’s a really crappy house but atleast it’s clean. They were glad that it was clean but they want to reform it like re-do some of the walls cause they’re molding and like falling apart. One of the lights doesn’t work and stuff and there’s no door knob. So there’s some little things but they weren’t mad at us cause they know it’s not us who did it. It’s all the missionaries for the last 5 years but it was cool to talk to them and they’re doing good here. In our district we’re doing good. Our district has us, another couple of Elders, which is Elder Klepa and Elder Cartavalum, and we have the sisters in our district too. Sis. Davenport and Sis. Moraes. They’re both really cool. Sis. Davenport’s from Washington from … she lives in a little city really close to Vancouver. She’s pretty cool and Sis. Moraes is really cool too. She’s from the south here in Brasil.
As district leader, I help them out. I have to do their baptismal interviews, have to pass their numbers, do divisions (splits) with them except the sisters, we can’t do that. And just that kind of stuff when they have a question or something, they just call us.
And, so, we’re doing good here, me and Elder de Lima. He’s from the south too, from a little city called Cueraciba? and he’s a good guy. He’s still kind of new in the mission and he’s kind of shy but he’s breaking out of that. He had a mind set that senior is senior and junior is junior and that he as junior didn’t have to do anything and I quickly helped him learn that senior and junior doesn’t exist. So, it isn’t that he didn’t want to work, it was that he felt like he wasn’t allowed to or something. So, I’m like, no dude, you can make decisions too. Like if you wanna mark an appointment with someone, mark an appointment. So, I think it’s been helping him to grow a lot too. And that’s what President said. He said, he just needs to grow up some more. It’s true. He’s a really good guy. I like him.
So, we’re just chugging along here in Brasil. The ward is really good. There’s a lot of inactive people. It’s a good ward, it’s just that there’s a lot of inactive people. Not too many people go to church each week, but it’s a lot lot more than Porto. We have lunch every day. I’m getting fatter here but it’s good. The people are really cool, they like us a lot. We’re working a lot. The Bishop’s a really hard worker. So we are liking that.
This Sunday, all the district leaders and zone leaders are going to go to Salvador and we’re going to have a three day training meeting in Salvador. That will be really cool. Me and Sanderson will catch a bus here and take off. It’s really cool cause Sanderson’s a district leader here now too. The other district that’s real close to us so we get to see each other. P-day we went and played and stayed at his house and played soccer with him and played Uno. It was fun. Me and him talked a bunch about CTM memories and about Porto Seguro memories. It was funny. He’s one of my real good buds now. So, that was fun. We are excited to go to Salvador and have this new training and find out new information. We are going to have some new trainings about how we are going to work. I don’t know. But, it’s cool. We’re excited to go there.
So I took 6 months to buy the pin drive. I took 6 months to get it all wrapped up. I got it all wrapped up in a box ready to go, I just have to go to the post office and pay for it and mail it now so about another six months and I should get that done. Just kidding, I’ll try and get that sent today or this week at the latest.
I got some letters when Pres. came. I got two letters from mom and they have some pictures in it. One of the letters has a list of our cousins and their kiddos. It’s crazy to realize all of our cousins over there have kids and most of them have two. It’s wild. Thanks for all the pictures, mom. Monty looks like he’s a treat and Jakob too. He looks like he’s starting to grow up. It’s exciting. I can’t wait to meet him. I can’t wait to play with Monty and see all you guys. It sounds like Justin’s a swimming fool. That 10 lb. brick off the bottom (Justin is in a lifeguarding course and had to swim down and pick up a 10 lb. brick from the bottom of the pool and carry it on his chest to safety) of the pool and he only weighs like 20 lbs. so that is pretty impressive!
Anyway, I will try to keep this one shorter, so it will send. I love you guys. I hope you’re all going good and I’ll talk to you later. Tchau.


Hey Family,
So, I remembered one other little story that was kind of funny. So, we’re teaching this guy, he’s from a state called Parnabuca (Spelling?) and in this state they’re pretty violent . They’re always telling us stories about people killing other people. Like, uh, he killed his brother, oh, he killed his cousin. Like one time, here’s a story just to tell you how violent is it. So, one time he was just hanging out with his cousin and her other cousin (who she was dating), she was dating her cousin, and he was hanging out with her and it was his cousin also. Well, her boyfriend and also cousin, he arrived and he saw them just hanging out and talking and he got really mad and he went and grabbed a knife and came back and stabbed her 15 times and killed her. Then her brothers found out, grabbed their guns and chased this kid down and they got to his house and he knew they would come kill him. So he drank some poison, something on the farm, and it killed him. They went out. They got to the house. They knocked on the door and the dad said, no need. My son already killed himself and the dad wasn’t even mad like he just like oh yeah, he deserved to die and they still went out back and saw the kid laying on the ground and they went and shot him three times just to make sure he was dead. They are like literal animals. They just kill each other for nothing, like death there is nothing.
So he said one time he was a taxi driver. He was driving this woman and her husband were like,” hey, can you take us to this part of town?” He was like it was really far away so he said it would be 30 Reals (around $17 U.S.) they were like 30 is a lot, can it be 25? All right, I’ll do it for 25. So he drives them to the place and when they get there he stops and they are like” no no no a little farther, a kilometer, a little further in the front , like farther up the street.” He said no, I already gave you a good deal, 25 Reals. So just get out here. This is your spot. They’re like, “a little father in the front.” He’s like no, get out. So they get out and as they are leaving the guy turns around to come pay him, walks up to the window. He rolls down his window and the guy puts a knife to his throat and says, “Pass your wallet and everything you have of value. Your watch your wallet, your cards.” He said there was a city bus ahead of him and the driver saw that this guy was robbing him and he just stopped but it’s a pretty normal thing there so they weren’t really worried about it and this guy, Jonas, he’s like whatever. So he passes his wallet and everything. All of his money, his credit cards, and everything to the guy. Then he said the guy put the knife in his pocket and starts walking away thinking he’s the man. Jonas pulls out a revolver from under his seat and jumps out of the car. He yells, “hey,” The guy turns around and he says, “come back here,” and the guy comes back and he pulls out his revolver and says, “all right now, give me my cards, give me everything you just stole.” He guy put them all back and then he tells the woman to put them back in the car. She puts everything back in the car. Then he looks at him and he goes “give me your credit cards and your money.” The guy gives him everything and he’s all ticked off. He has to give him his money and everything and then he looks at him and says, “Now, give me your clothes.” The guy’s like, “no!” He’s like, “GIVE ME YOUR CLOTHES!” The robber has to take off all of his clothes. Your clothes, everything, your tennis shoes too. He’s like, put them in my taxi. The guy puts them in. Then he looks at the woman and he goes, “what are you laughing at?” Take off your clothes too. Until he had stripped them both down of their shoes and everything. She was in her panties and bra and he was in his boxers. Then he got back in his taxi and the bus driver was laughing so hard. The city bus driver was watching it all and laughing so hard. Then he went off and gave away their clothes to kids in the streets, to people in the street who needed clothes. He was just laughing, he was like,” yah, that son of a gun thought he’d go rob someone, got robbed.”
That’s just a funny story I thought I’d tell you guys. So, see if these send. I love you guys and hope everything’s good.
Tchau

July 29, 2010

Hey Family,

So it looks like those two voice clips sent. Sorry they didn’t work last week. I’m sure you were bummed out, sorry. And I didn’t write yesterday because I was in Salvador. We had training with all of the zone and district leaders. We left Sunday night and got back this morning. It was fun and cool. We didn’t really learn anything new but we learned how to use the things we have been learning in “Preach My Gospel” and stuff so that was really fun. I got to see Elder Weaver and Elder Southworth. He is like my best friend on the mission and he just got called as the assistant too. He is way cool. He set it up that me and him did a division one of the nights and so that I slept in their room during the week. It was cool. He will go home about 6 months before me. He is in Elder Weaver’s group and we’re already planning a snowboarding trip in Canada because when I get home the season will just be getting over and I can’t wait another 8 or 9 months to board!

I think the voice message tells you what’s going on. We won’t have a zone conference this time and yeah this is the last week of the transfer. I think we’ll both stay but who knows. This is my guys second in the area so we’re both pretty new to the area. But we’ll see. Love you guys. Take care and thanks for the pics. I almost cried though!



July 21, 2010

Ok so this week I told everything in a voice message so I hope you’re all happy, ha. Love you. Take care.