Campo Grande Week 29

Oct. 20, 1014

Family! 

Life could not be better. I am heading off to PONTA PORÃ! On the border of Paraguay! I will be Zone Leader in a tiny zone. I will be with Elder Tolman. Who is super cool but unfortunately, AMERICAN. My first American comp! I am a little bummed that I will be with a gringo, but it should be awesome.

     My last week with my filho here in Campo Grande was incredible! We tore it up and brought 20 people to church! It was a mix of less active and investigators it was rad. I gave everything I had to this area and went through some super rough times here, but through it all I made friends with the greatest people in the world, and developed a love I didn´t know existed. We had a family night like every night this week and exchanged information to meet up after the mish. Don´t be surprised when we have some awesome folks sleeping at our house here in a year or two. Last night we had a family night in a neighborhood that the ward forgot. It is way out in the middle of nowhere. We spent it with some families that I worked super hard with. I am happy to say that they all are firm and adding an excitement to the ward that everyone needs. I cried sweet tears to leave them all. A guy who I helped reactivate said to me as we were leaving, Thanks a ton, you helped me and my family more than you could know. It was one of the coolest moments of my mish.

   -We played the Anderson spray bottle game!

   -It is Mango season here and there is a million mango trees on every street. Free Mangos! There are tons of different types and they are all so tasty. Me and Laskoski stop to snatch mangos like ever 20 minutes.

  - There is a fruit that grows in the forest here that doesn´t exist anywhere else in the world and it is super tasty.

Campo Grande Week 28

Oct. 13, 2014

Campo Grande Week 27

Oct. 6, 2014

This week was awesome. It passed super fast and I was exhausted and happy at the end of every day. It is interesting because summer is starting but it also rains alot during this time of the year. It is super cool. Rain that cools the day off and the next day is super hot and humid. It keeps you on your toes for sure.

      We are teaching some awesome folks. Josué is the man! We found him on a street. We walk a ton. I stopped and asked him for water and in the average amazing Brazilian way, he was stoked to grab three chairs and sit with us and talk over some tereré. He is super jazzed to learn more. The election was Sunday and in Brasil you have to vote. So none of the folks we are teaching made it out, which bummed us out. But I know they´ll make it out this week for sure. It will be awesome. We are teaching the other families that are in some tought situations but really have desires to be good people and do what is right.

    One of those families is the family of Régis. They work so much, but are the coolest folks around. He is the guy that is building the super cool house. We helped him rough and trim and I must admit that I love trade work. I feel super comfortable and happy bustin out a construction project. It is a shame that you can make so much more money studying for four years and hustling buisness neh?

Anyways it was awesome working on his house in our Sunday best and then sitting down with the whole fam for family night. 

        I had one of the most fulfilling experiences of my entire mission on Friday and Saturday of this week. The bispo of our ward is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. He doesn´t know how to read very well and his hands are permanantely marked with greese becuase he works as a mechanic. And the man WORKS. I love the guy. Anways we always pass by his house and give him a hard time while he is working. Our ward had planned a temple trip for Sunday. It is a super big sacrifice for a lot of the members because they have to ride the bus to São Paulo and work in the temple for a week straight. We visited bispo thursday and I could tell he was super stressed to finish everything before the temple trip, we finished saying hello and left. We had walked quite a ways down the street when I had a feeling to go back. I turned around and ran back to his place and said we will be here tomorow after lunch in normal clothes to help you out, beleza? We worked our tails off the next day taking a super old fuska (volkswagen beetle) and tractor apart to sand and clean. That night we got home to plan and my comp and I knew we had to show up the next morning to help him out if he was going to make it to the temple. We showed up at 6:30 and worked until 3:00, missing the first session of conference. I have never seen a humbler man in my life. He hugged us nearly crying and said that no one has ever helped him the way we did.

       This week I followed the spirit and focused on how I could just help someone have a better day. I loved the talk of the prophet on Sunday. He was like hey, lets be better people and relax. Service is the essence of love. Just work. Do it for the right reasons. It was refreshing. 

     \\\\\\P day was rad!! this super cool indian in our ward, Salamão, led us to a waterfall in the middle of no where and we made a rad churrasco, drank tereré, played a rad Brazilian card game called truco, played guitar and hiked around the waterfalls. I don´t know why American culture has trouble with simplicity. Here life is so simple. Conversation with strangers is easy and comfortable and there is a light in everyones eyes. 

   I love my mission. Everyday I thank god for one more day of life and for the blessing that come with it. I love you all so much. God loves us and trusts us. Man is that he might have joy. Have joy! 

I love you all to death. I got one more package!!!! thank you so much! It was one for my birthday! Send me peanutbutter. brazilians dig it.

Campo Grande Week 26

Sep. 29, 2014

Family, 

I don´t really know what to say. The work is going great. We had a really good week. Nothing really sticks out. We had some cool family nights and that family we are teaching came to church! Every day my love for the people here grows. Getting transfered from here will be super bittersweet. I have to figure out a way to make enough money after the mission to make a biyearly trip to brazil. Everything is quite alright here.

      Tina was the greatest friend that I every had. She loved unconditionally and was always there for everyone, She is a part of my youth and our family. I can´t help but cry. I love you all so much and want you all to know how gratefull I am for all of you. I have got your back. You are the greatest family in the world. 

I love and miss you all very much.

-Elder Davis Anderson

P.S. They opened that group that me and my comp worked so hard to open! check out sister rebers blog. SÃO MATEUS BABY.

Campo Grande Week 25

Sep. 22, 2014

Family,

 this week flew by. We have been walking SO MUCH. around 22 kilometers every day it can be rough sometimes, our area is massive and the bus system that runs through the rural areas we work every day is super slow. We want to move to a bairro closer to where we work but the stake president told our mission president that he wants us to strengthen the city, so for now we will keep on walkin.

      We found some awesome folks this week. This lady stopped us in the street and asked if we were from the Mormon Church. We ended up teaching her that day, I have never taught a more elect person, she accepts everything, reads everything, went to church, e vai ser batizado em duas semanas! 

   We are working in a super cool bairro that is at the end of our area, the members that live there are super rad we have become good friends and they have been hooking us up with references, we are working with an awesome family. We found this family while we were walking though the neighborhood. There was a guy working on his house we stopped and started talking to him. His house is super rad. He hasn´t done anything on paper, just built it buy eye. It is super modern, has an awesome glass table, it is hard to explain, but I will send pictures next week, it is awesome. And he has done it all himself. Anyways we found out that a few years ago the elders came through and baptized a few of his kids, but after they were confirmed they never went back. We started teaching the parents and it has been an awesome time. We are working on his house with him and every time we go there his wife makes us tasty food, she is a vegetarian chef. We are super stoked for this fam.

    We had a rad family night last night with a fire.

I feel super disconnected from you guys, it is weird.

I love you all so much the gospel is true! hook the missionaries in our ward up with a tasty treat, or someone to visit. It will mean a ton to them.

    P.S. Another thing I have noticed is how rich we are. Like financially. We are so blessed, we have so much! Never feel like you are going with out. The people here have so much less and they work super hard, count yo blessins!

Campo Grande Week 24

September 15, 2014


This week was super rad. Meu Filhão chegou! My child arrived! His name is Elder Laskoski. He is from Ipoméia, Santa Catarina. Way down south in Brazil. He is the weirdest brazilian I
 have ever met. He is more of a gringo than I am! For reals.. I feel like I am with someone from Kanab. He is super cool. He is a decendent of the first members of the church in Brasil. He lived on a farm his enire life and rarely left. He works super hard, and is humble. The first time he ever bought milk was this morning. He just milked cows back home. He never rode a bus, grocery shopped, used email, nada! He is super white and his name is super foreign. Everyone thinks he is a gringo.

    We worked a ton this week. We had absolutely nothing at the beginning of the week but after a bunch of hard work with the members we set up an awesome week. We set high goals and are super excited. I will be honest, I am super stoked about my Português, my comp is still learning the lessons and is super shy so I have had to do just about everything. I love helping him out and laughing about his culture shock in to ´´city life´. It is super weird to be training and to be past the year mark. My trainers were super cool and made a huge impact on my mission. It is funny paying way more attention to the little stuff and helping him get in to the groove. I really am dedicated to helping him learn the ropes and having a rad transfer full of hard work and good times.

        The sisters are actually super cool, They work super smart and are blessing the lives of tons of people. District meeting is super funny and once again I am the only gringo in the district. its rad.

           1. I think the mosquitoes don´t like my blood. I haven´t been bit in a while, but my comps get eaten alive. When I was in Cuiabá I used a drop or two of Terrashield in a cup of water and rubbed on myself. Seemed to work.

            2. I didn´t get a package at conference! I did get one package with my peppermint oil! and some candy. Which was a huge blessing.

             3. I haven´t gotten sick in forever. occasional stomach issues, headaches, and colds are a part of life here, but other than my Dengui incident in Cuiabá I have never been sick. I take those onguard and digetzen capsules whenever I feel like I am getting sick. I am also a huge believer in Vitamin C. I have turned into my mother. I pound limes. The limes here are super good! I make juice or squeeze it into water or tereré, or just eat one whole every day. I LOVE LIMES.

            4. IT is pretty hot, but not too bad.

            5. I try to eat semi healthy. I make scrambled eggs with oninons and peppers everyday. We score tons of free fruit that I LOVE. Maracujá, limão, acerola, and other awesome fruits that we don´t have in the states. I have been on a coconut kick. A less active lady in the ward hooks us up and I drink the milk and eat the flesh every night. It is incredible! I drink so much tereré and juice. Almoço is awesome. We eat so much every almoço. Every single day everysingle meal has rice and beans. I love it. They make churrasco everyonce and a while, which is INCREDIBLE. beef here is so much better. Awesome salads. mandioca! Almoço is always great. Coke and guraraná.

           

         

         I love you all so much. I love my life I love my mission. I feel an incredible love for our human family, especially the people here. Thinking about leaving here breaks my heart. I am incredible grateful for everything.

         

Campo Grande Week 23

September 8, 2014

One year down! It´s nuts to think that one year ago I was losing my mind in the MTC. A lot has happened in the last year. I have grown and experienced some incredible things. I have learned another language and become a part of culture that has become part of me. It has been the hardest year of my life. I have lived among the greatest people in the world. I have grown spiritually and found peace in asking the questions of my soul and searching for the answers. 

IT HAS BEEN THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF MY 21 YEARS.

   I can´t help but reflect on the radness of life. Só gratidão.

 I had a pretty cool experience this week, we rode the bus and walked a million miles to get to a house in the sisters area for an interview (I am super proud and also surprised at how we navigate our way around a huge region with just the sketchy bus system and our feet).

  I was interviewing Cleber who had been heavily involved in drugs for super long but was two weeks clean and super nervous about his baptism. It was super powerful we just talked it out and he got super emotional. After like 2 minutes of silence he was like VAMOS LÁ. Which means like lets do it. It was awesome. It made me realize that when we repent the lord really does forgive and forget. When we do our part he forgives instantly. He doesn´t need to think about it.

    So this transfer is going to be gnarly. I am staying here in Amumbaí, which is rough, my district will be changed to me, my companion, and six sisters. Also I wil be training. I don´t know who he is or where he is from yet, he gets here tonight. So it should be an interesting one. I am stoked.

     I am stoked that everyone is doing good. Tell Richmond to stretch that groin out. Send a pic of the new 4runner! I am really not that surprised that Austin is still a freak athlete. I am freaking out by how old my siblings are getting... It makes me sad that I am missing out on the good times but also super excited for the good times to come!