Elder Collin J. Andrus: Week 15

Oí Familía e Todo Mundo!

It sure was great to talk to you guys on Christmas! It was a bummer that we couldn’t get Skype or anything to work here in Oriximiná. But I’m glad we found a way to use a phone. It was weird to speak in English, not gonna lie! And to listen to English. I’ve basically gone 6 straight weeks here without hearing any English at all, so it was a nice break haha. The transfer just ended, and Elder Costa and I are sticking around here in Oriximiná. Lots of changes occurred actually - our zone is gonna change quite a bit. Sister missionaries are transferring to Òbidus and will be in our district - that means brownies and cookies every district meeting :) haha

This Christmas was pretty stressful with all of the confusion and everything here, and with nothing working, but it was good. A little different than back in the states, but still good! It was about 90 degrees here with rain haha. Our baptism went smoothly though! No better day than to get baptized than on Christmas! His name is Faed, and he’s 11 years old. His brother, Fabricio, baptized him. Fabricio is a member who is going on a mission in about a year. Then right after the baptism, we had our Christmas Party that was actually really good. Remember how I said we have to do a lot for our activities? Well, the members did everything, and they seem to be doing a lot more activities now, or at least planning a lot more. Papaí Noel showed up there at the church building and everything so the kids loved it haha.

Like I told you guys, we had a Christmas Zone Conference in Santarém on Thursday, which was cool. It was with President and Sister Campos who came from Belém. We got to go to a beach nearby and play soccer on the beach and go in the water - all with the mission president haha. It was fun. And at the conference we received all of the packages and letters from the mission home. So I got your 3 packages and then 8
letters haha. Everyone was jealous and said it was only because I was new, which is probably true haha. I will most likely only get letters from the mission home whenever I go to Santarém for some sort of zone activity because they don’t send it all the way out here where I am. It’s best if people send letters to the mission home because I never know when I’ll be transferred, but you guys can continue to send them here to Oriximiná because I’ll let you guys know when I’m transferred.

I was happy to hear that more people from our stake are coming to Brasil! I’m excited to be able to talk with Nate, Ethan, and Heather in 2 years. Let Nate know that I’m proud of him and he’s gonna love it. Also it would be cool to get his email or someway to contact him, Thanks!

Brasil is by far the best place to serve the Lord. I learned something in the CTM – “there are only two kinds of missionaries; the ones who served in Brasil, and the ones who wished that they served in Brasil.” Haha Well, thanks for all your support, and I hope you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year! Boas festas la em casa e obrigado por tudo!

Com Amor,
Èlder Andrus