Words from Elder Garrett Anderson in Brazil

"Well this week was actually pretty good. We have been keeping so busy just trying to get to all of the investigators of the other missionaries that we are finally starting to get things taken care of. The hardest part of the week has to be the disappointment when people say they will be at church, that they will read the book of Mormon, and that they will pray. We can have a lesson super spiritual with the spirit so strong that there is no way to deny what we are teaching is true and when they don't follow through, then it is seriously a heart breaker.

Yesterday we had one of the more interesting experiences on my mission. As my companion and i were walking down the street, we heard and gun go off and saw this drunk guy about fifty feet away pointing the guy in the air. I got a little nervous and my companion took off running. I told him not to run because then that guy might point the gun at us! So he kept swinging the gun around in the air then walked over and put the gun in a trash can. That was probably the most intense 30 seconds of my mission. Anyways we were protected and nothing happened so its all good.

We also talked a lot about opposition in church yesterday. Opposition is necessary for growth and God lets us experience opposition, not because he doesn't care about us, but because he loves us and wants us to be and do better. I know this is true. May we all grow and learn to love opposition. I know it is very hard and can at times seem impossible, but as it says in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have^apeace. In the ^bworld ye shall have ^ctribulation: but be of good^dcheer; I have ^eovercome the world."