Monday, November 28, 2016

Thanksgiving Milagre (Miracle)

Olá,

This past week was my first Thanksgiving away from home. I was so caught up with the mission that I didn't even realize it was Thanksgiving until Elder Salmon mentioned it, haha. We had a District Skype fall through and Elder Salmon had to do a few things so I did some language study. I had a goal to finish the Restoration vocab (The first Lesson that we teach) by today. I worked really hard on Thursday and memorized 100 words!! I finished the Restoration vocab and memorized a good bit of the Plan of Salvation! There is no way I would have been able to do this without help from Heavenly Father, O Dom de Linguas! I finished the Plan of Salvation vocab Friday, about 50 words and I should finish The Gospel of Jesus Christ vocab by tomorrow!

I was a little more creative in the kitchen this week, I made some Biscuits, Pancakes and Chicken in Dumplings! They all turned out pretty well!

My back has been bothering me a bit, it started in the MTC and has not gotten better yet but hopefully it will soon.
We met with Anna and Paulo, our progressing investigators, on Saturday and talked about tithing, they did not accept it very well and said that they did not want to meet with us anymore...It was so disappointing. Germana, the member who we brought to the lesson, left her glasses there so we had to go back last night, Anna graciously invited us in and said that she changed her mind and wanted to continue taking the lessons! Milagre!
The Mission has been very difficult. It is sad to see so many people reject this great message, but as Elder Holland said, "When you are rejected, spit upon, cast out and mocked you are standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest life this world has ever known."





Monday, November 21, 2016

Bom Dia

Ola,

This week has been great, I am beginning to warm up to the Portuguese people and the language haha in Salt Lake it was easy to go up and talk to anyone, But here speaking to foreign people in a foreign language it has been difficult. On Thursday I had 5 contacts (that was my goal) it is not very much but it is improvement! My confidence in talking to strangers in Portuguese is increasing along with my language skills. I still understand roughly 20% of what people are saying, but everyday it gets a little better!

Wednesday when we came back to the apartment, I put the key in and the door opened, apparently we didn't close the door all the way...so we crept around the apartment making sure no one was in there. We searched the bedroom, kitchen, study room and bathrooms then went to the closet room. I looked to the curtains and one side was flat against the window but the other was sticking out, like a person was standing there It freaked me out so i grabbed a shoe and chucked it at it and heard a yelp! Brincadeira! haha it just hit the window and there air coming in from the bottom of the door made the curtain look like that. Fortunately no one entered our apartment or stole anything but we certainly learned  a lesson

I did my laundry for the first time in Portugal in Friday. Washers here are not very good and ours takes a 2-3 hours to wash and 4 and a half hours to dry so we can`t do all of our laundry on P-day.

We taught Paulo the Restoration this week, he is a devote Catholic but listen sincerely to our lesson and told us that he was going to read The Book of Mormon! I am excited to follow up with him.

Thursday we had an appointment with João, he was in there listening to music and came to the door but didn't open. His apartment is on the 6th story and there is a sweet view from the window so I went and looked out the window for a few minutes and took a few pictures. We then walked back to the elevator and I then went and looked out the window there, the apartment complex is like and L and the window faced the inside. I looked down to the ground and saw this big concrete hole and was wondering what it was. I then realized it was and old pool and I thought about how nice the place probably used to be. This took a few minutes and when I was done and turned around Suzanne walked out of the elevator. She had stepped into a hole a few days before and broke her foot in 3 places. She wanted us to come by that night and give them some Comfort. That night were tracting on the 3rd floor and Elder Salmon had a thought to go up to the 6th. As soon as we got up there. Suzanne and her husband along with 4 of there 6 kids had just gotten out of the other elevator! We went to there apartment and taught them the Plan of Salvation. At the end of the lesson Elder Salmon looked to me to extend the baptismal invitation, after i did so she said hat she knows our message is true and she accepted the invitation! Rodrigo wants to think about it a little more because he want to make sure that he can keep a covenant that he makes. Our Branch only had 15 people at church yesterday and their family would be a huge addition! They have a Book of Mormon and have been reading it every night as a family! They are awesome! The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways!

This morning I studied the creation and read a lot about it in the Pearl of Great Price, I have hardly read it before and had never realized before the power it has, It truly is a Pearl of Great Price!

Until next week.

My companion, Elder Salmon
 A fisherman gave the Elders fish a while back, I cooked it in some boiling water and it was the best fish I have ever had!  


Monday, November 14, 2016

Portugal!

Hey Everyone,

I made it to Portugal! After a long day of traveling, Elder Martel and I arrived in Lisbon on Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by President Tavares and his wife and the office Elders. We then went to the mission home and were assigned to our companions and areas. We spent the night at the mission home and left to our areas on Thursday morning. My companion is Elder Salmon, he is from Canada, also speaks French and has been out for 8 months. His companion went home last week so I took his spot. 

We are in the Santo Andre branch which is about 2 hours south of Lisbon and we are living in Sines, our apartment is on the 4th story and is a lot bigger and nicer than my last one. We are one of the only areas with a car and a washing machine! As soon as we arrived at the apartment I put a few things away then we left to an appointment with a less active and brought 3 members with us. She lives on a farm in the country in the middle of nowhere. On the way back we were super low on gas and were trying to make it to a gas station by taking this dirt road that didn't even show up on the map. We got lost and were about to turn back, but fortunately a man drove by and told us where to go, it we would have tried to go all the way back we would of ran out of gas. When we made it to the highway, there was a gas station at the bottom of the hill, we filled up and made it back! What a miracle!

In Europe people are out later at night so we stay out until 9:30, 10:00 at the latest and go to bed at 11 and get up at 7 rather than 6:30.

The area is pretty big and yet at church yesterday there were only 18 people in sacrament meeting haha there is a lot of work to do here. There are a lot of people from Cape Verde and Brazil. It is cool to meet so many different kinds of people. 

People work like crazy here so it is hard to find them at home. The past few nights we have been trying to meet with Suzanne and Rodrigo and their family who have been investigating the church. We missed them a few times because they are super busy with work, but last night we ran into them and were able to talk with them!

Sines borders the ocean and has a strong ocean scent pretty much everywhere we go. Saturday morning we went running down to the beach and ran across the road right above the beach as the sun was rising. It was so cool. The sun sets over the ocean and is spectacular every night. 

Portugal is awesome and way different than any other place I have ever been to. It is so cool here, pretty much all the houses are white stucco with red clay roofs. The people are usually pretty nice but they speak so fast that it is hard to understand. I understand at most 15-20% of what they are saying but I know that it will come with time. 

My body has had a hard time adjusting to the 7 hour time change so I have been so tired, but these week I should completely adjust. Sunday night we were tracting in an apartment complex and I had a thought to go to floor 8. When we got there Elder Salmon thought for a minute then said door 16. We knocked on it and a man opened up and was busy at the time, but we talked for a few minutes and he was very interested, then we made a return appointment. His work schedule is busy and unpredictable but he said if he was home that he would willingly let us in and listen to our message! It was amazing!

The mission field has been hard but rewarding, I am excited to continue to learning and growing as I serve the Lord!
 Sines is not a touristy place but there is still this sweet view from the back of a castle!


 Elder Empey has a full ride to play O-line at BYU!

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Email from Dallin's Mission President, letting us know he arrived

Dear Family Anderson,
Your son has just arrived here in Portugal! He had a great trip and we were so happy to meet him. He will be a great missionary and we are excited to get to know him more.
We hope the best for your Family,
Sincerely,
President and Sister Tavares



This is Dallin's new companion and trainer:

Monday, November 7, 2016

Last week in SLC

Hey Everyone,

I had a great last week in Salt Lake City! We met some great potential
investigators and had some crazy experiences.

Friday night Wade took us out to dinner at Litzas Pizza, it was super
good and someone else payed for all of us haha that happens a lot in
Salt Lake haha he told us this crazy story I will try to sum it up.
Wade councils kids who are struggling with drugs addictions and what
not. He helped a kid named Jacob overcome drug addictions and leave on
a mission, he was called to Wichita Kansas. He then taught a teenager
named Morgan who was addicted to drugs. He helped him overcome all of
his addictions and he was then baptized. He was the only member in his
family and despite rejection from them he decided to serve a mission
and was called to Salt Lake City. Elder Morgan Workman is now one of
my companions. The story is crazy and was so fun to listen to!


Saturday night we had a Book of Mormon chucked at us off of a 2nd
story balcony along with a few words...That was a first.

Sunday night as we were leaving to tract, President wants us to tract
2 hours per day, we stopped and prayed asking God which way we should
go. As soon as the prayer was over we all had a distinct impression to
go left. We walked up to the end off the block and these apartments
stood out. We knocked all of them but no one was interested. We then
went right and the second house we knocked on we met Jordan who is in
graduate school for mechanical engineering, he is from Nashville and
previously attended Auburn. He was studying the bible with his
girlfriend. They invited us in and he immediately began preaching the
bible to us for 45 minutes haha He knows the Bible better than anyone
I have ever met in my entire life! We then began to talk about the
Book of Mormon. He had read most of it before and began asking us
about Grace and the Atonement. We talked about it and read many verses
for about an hour. By the end we still had different beliefs haha we
left a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read and pray about it. He
is really busy with school but we are going to hopefully meet with him
tonight.

We got permission to go to the Salt Lake Temple this morning because I
am going to miss the temple trip later this month. We got there and
got the news that the temple is closed in Monday's for cleaning...So
we got a tour of temple square. I got to see a few things that I
hadn't seen before so it was sweet!

Tonight I will pack up and head out in the morning for Lisbon! I am so
excited! I leave at 2:30 p.m.Tuesday and arrive 2:35 p.m. Wednesday and have a
4 hour layover in Amsterdam, I can't wait to get there but I am going
to enjoy my last day speaking English for the next 22 months!

--Elder Anderson

A few pictures from my time in the Salt Lake Mission: