Monday, March 27, 2017

Zone Conference, Rain and German Shepherd Lesson

Ola,

Wednesday we went to Setubal for a combined Zone conference for the Setubal and Miratejo Zones. I learned a lot about the power and simplicity of the Plan of Salvation. It really is so simple that a child can understand. It is such a powerful lesson and is one that converts many people to the church, including Sister Tavares. After the conference, our district searched for Sister Isgett's bag that was stolen from a church activity the prior Saturday, I felt like a CIA agent walking through the woods in my suit looking for stolen stuff, haha. We ended up finding a few of her bank cards on the hill behind the church. Then we had to book it across the city to catch the train that we thought was leaving at 5, We ended up getting there on time, but the train actually left at 6, haha. On the train ride back I talked to a few people about the gospel. I have found out that talking to people on public transportation is fun and not as scary as I thought it would have been. I met some pretty cool people.

A lot of people walk their dogs here so to start conversations with people I will often just start talking to them about their dog and pet it. One had a German Shepherd, I began to talk to him then went to pet his dog when it snapped and tried to bite my hand! I pulled it back just it time, its teeth just grazed my hand barely making a scratch. Another inch and I wouldn't have a pinky finger haha- I definitely learned a lesson.

My magnetic tag fell off one night proselyting, I have no idea where it is, We searched almost everywhere that we had gone that night and still haven't found it, hopefully this week. Now I am stuck with just my clip name tag because my new ones still haven't arrived.

Saturday we were filling the baptismal font up for a baptism in the ward, it was about half way full and we were going to stay at the church until it was full, We had an appointment with Catia on the other side of the city, about a 20 minute walk. I had the thought that we needed to go to Catia then rather than waiting for the font to fill, so I showed a boy how to do it, then we left to teach Catia. We got to her apartment building right as they were coming down the stairs, leaving for her son to get a haircut. They said they could wait for the haircut and invited us in to hear a message. We then taught them a powerful Plan of Salvation lesson. Milagre. If we would have waited one more minute we would have missed them.

It rained a ton this week, Sunday morning it was cold and rainy. We left our umbrellas at the church the night before so we had a soaking wet, freezing cold 20-minute walk to the chapel. When we arrived my suit jacket was soaked so i had to take it off and hang it up during church. There was a family from California on vacation that visited our ward. It was fun and a little difficult to speak to them in English- haha.
Ate Proximo.

Elder Anderson
 The bank cards that we found after looking for the stolen bag...




 Cut my hair

 Almada Forum


New backpack

Monday, March 20, 2017

Tie Burning, New Goals and Backflip

Olá,

Tuesday night I burned one of my ties to celebrate being on the mission for 6 months! I put it on a wire hanger and let it sit on the gas burning stove for a few seconds until it caught, then ran to the other side of the apartment to the deck where we watched it go up in flames.

This week I set lots of goals for the rest of the transfer. I set goals for number of contacts, push-ups, words to memorize, Livro de Mórmon reading, lesson practices, language study and handwriting practices. Then I divided it up into weekly and daily goals. It feels great to have lots of things to be working on to improve myself!

We had divisions with the district this week. I went with Elder Angulo and we had a great time. A few times people told him that they were not interested, but then he began to ask questions about them and they began to talk then he was able to wrap it back and share a Book of Mormon scripture and testify. He did this a few times it was pretty impressive to watch. I learned a lot from him.

I did 1,500 push-ups this week! I am trying to do 7,000 this transfer and am on track so far, this week we are going to start running in the mornings.

This morning the district went to Costa Caparica and played soccer on the beach for a while. Elder Mitton was doing all kinds of crazy flips, I finally got the nerve to try a back flip with him spotting me!

Saturday there was a party at the church so we stopped by for a little while. I got to play some ping pong with some Africans and had a blast. After one of the young men, André, said Elders come up to the chapel I have some friends for you to teach. For the next hour or so we taught Pedro and Samuel about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. They are not very religious people and were not all that interested, but we taught a really spiritually powerful lesson and after teaching them, Samuel who didn't believe in God. felt the spirit and now has the desire to learn more! He lives in different parts of Portugal so we passed their information on to the Elders who work there.

Carlos attended church again and really enjoys it. The Clement Family is doing well. We walked with Souza to church on Sunday. Marina had to stay home because there daughter is sick. As we were walking under some trees a  bird went to the bathroom right on his head, but he was a good sport about it, enjoyed church and after he asked, "What are the steps I need to take to get baptized?" First they will be baptized they will have to get married and it looks like they will have to get residency in the county before doing so which might take some time, but nonetheless they have the desire.

The weather here has been all over the place. Sunday afternoon it was burning hot, then that night it was windy and super cold. Crazy.

I have met a good bit of people from India and Natal who don't speak Portuguese so I have to talk with them in English. English contacts are getting harder and harder and I often accidentally say a few things in Portuguese because a lot of words in Portuguese come more natural than in English. I am working on learning Subjunctive... I hope to have Past, Present and Future subjunctive down by the end of the transfer while learning 100 words a week. Fluency is just around the corner!


Até proximo.
Elder Anderson












 For Father´s day the children at church gave these to all the Dads and missionaries haha


 Costa da Caporica










Monday, March 13, 2017

6 Months

Olá,

This week has been wild. Tuesday we were crossing the metro tracks, 2 metros had just passed going either way so I thought it was safe to cross so without looking I crossed the first one and was crossing the second one when I looked to the right and unexpectedly there was a metro speeding towards me! A thousand things went through my head in that split second, I have seen so many squirrels hesitate crossing a road and get hit. I thought I have to move, Now! So I quickly ran in the direction that I was walking and made it to the other side just before it crossed where I was. I definitely learned a lesson to always look both ways no matter what. No doubt I had angels watching over me that day it was a close call, haha.

We taught Souza and Clement, the Angolans that came up to us last week, the Restoration. Elder Cottrell looked to me to say the first vision. It had been a while since I had said it and last time I said it I messed up, but that time it came out perfectly!

Santo André was one of the few areas in the mission that had a car and a dryer. In Almada we don´t have either,  we ride the Metro pretty often and sometimes the bus and train, It gives us a lot more opportunities to talk with people.  I felt so cool hang drying my clothes for the first time haha.

I blinked and I have been out 6 months! I will burn my tie tomorrow.

On divisions with the AP´s  a few months ago we talked to this man named Antonio. He was cool with us the first time but the next time we saw him he ducked his head, our pointed to his watch and quickly walked in the other direction. While  I was serving there we ended up running into him a few more times and the same thing continued to happen. I guess he had enough of Elder Anderson in Sines and wanted to get out of the city. Walking by a bus stop the other night a bus stopped and Antonio got off and the first person he saw was Elder Anderson! He tried to get away but I walked towards him and said, "Antonio! Remember me?" He obviously was not happy to see me again so he pointed to his watch and kept walking hahaha it was so funny

Saturday we went to Lisbon for interviews with President Tavares, that night we were so busy working that we didn't have dinner. We definitely saw the sacrifice pay off.

A man named Carlos called us and wanted to talk with us, He had talked with the Elders some time ago. We taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized on April 1, he responded "you telling me that I can´t get baptized in March?" we said that we can make that work too! Sunday morning we went on splits with the Miratego Elders because we had a lot of people to walk to church. I went with Elder Angulo to Cova Piedade to pick up Carlos. Elder Cottrell and Mitton stayed in Larenjeiro to walk with Souza and Clement and their two children and Recent Converts Rui Santos, Nelson and his son. After church we walked all 8 of them to their homes.

In Sacrament meeting I didn´t get a chance to count but I would say we had 40-45 people. I gave a talk on what we gain when we read the scriptures, I focused on the Book of Mormon and read the paragraph in the introduction which states, "Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” I shared some of my experiences from reading the Book of Mormon alone and with my family every night as I was growing up and how it brought me closer to Christ. The Book is true and has the power to change your life.

Até Proxímo.




Monday, March 6, 2017

Cristo Rei-Christ the King

Olá,

Tuesday I arrived in my new area, Almada! It is on the other side of the Rio Tejo of Lisbon, It is a much larger city and area than Sines and Santo André and has a completely different feel to it. My new comp, Elder Cottrell is from Gwinett County, Georgia. It´s funny that we are the only 2 missionaries from Georgia and that we are serving together. He has only been here for 3 weeks, so neither of us know our way around the area very well so we have been going through the area book a ton looking for people that we can teach. 

The language is not much of a problem now, I understand pretty much everything that is said, Now the challenge is knowing what to say rather how to say it. Which is a much better problem to have haha.

This area has a ton of Africans and Brazilians, A few nights ago a family came to us and said, "Oh the Elders! We talked with you in Angola and would like to hear more!" African people are so cool!

Saturday I had the opportunity to baptize Feliciana. She was a referral from a member some time ago and had been taught by the missionaries for a while. She was going to have the Bishop baptize her, but he wanted the Elders to do it and I hadn´t Baptized anyone so I was chosen to do it. I was happy to do so. It was a cool experience baptizing someone for the first time.

The famous "Cristo Rei" monument is in Almada (the smaller replica of the one in Brazil) We went to visit it this morning but unfortunately they are doing some work on it and he elevator is closed for a month so we weren´t able to go to the top, Hopefully one day. But we walked around it and saw the 25 de Abril Bridge and Lisbon on the other side of the river. 

The Almada ward has about 30 active members and a ton of potential, I am excited to continue working here!

Elder Dallin Anderson






 My new companion Elder Cottrell





 The Church Building