Elder Sanderson's Mission Adventure: 32 weeks and a stingray stick....

Hey mom and fam!

It has been another crazy week and we once again spent only a few days in our area before again having to head back out. We're in Porto Velho again, but only until tomorrow night, then we're flying to Acre which is a different state in Brazil for some Zone Confrences. I think I might have to help give a training...that will be an adventure.

I baptized somebody in the river on Saturday! It was really cool because you have to use a big stick first to check for stingrays and electric eels in the water. What that requires is the missionary walking out first and making sure nothing will grab the investigator. It's pretty legit! The trick is to make sure you don't find anything lol. Then, as I baptized him, the bank of mud I was standing on like swallowed my leg so I went up to my neck in the water and was pretty much rebaptized! Gotta love those river baptisms haha.

Easter was uneventful besides the trip to PV, we had a grand total of 5 people at church and then had a bit of an adventure afterwards. We were getting ready to catch the bus to PV, but had to go and give the key to our house to a member so that the other missionaries who will be working in our area can have a place to stay. The only problem: It was POURING rain. You know the scene from Bug's life where it starts to rain? That's what it looked like. We managed to beat it to the bus stop with all of our stuff and then left it with someone who worked at the bus terminal so we could keep it dry. We then sprinted about a half a mile or so in the pouring rain and get to the member's house soaking wet and with only ten minutes to get back and catch the bus. So we threw the key at him and then we sprinted back. We were so wet haha. It was like mission impossible. Finally, we give up on running and just walk. My companion says, "where's a good samaritan when you need one?" As he says this, a car pulls up and offers us a ride back to the bus station. We jump in this ghetto chevette and keep on hauling. The dude drops us off at the bus only entrance in front of about 40 people. The looks on their faces were priceless! They've never seen missionaries before, so that was their first impression of the Church: two soaking-wet 20 year old Americans, getting out of a ghetto car, illegally parked, with huge smiles on their faces. It was amazing!

Not too much else that happened, I'll send a few pics as usual of the baptism and stuff. Love you guys! Might not get to email next week, here's our schedule:

Sunday (20th)- 10-hour bus ride to Porto Velho

Tuesday- Catch a 45 minute flight to Rio Branco

Thrusday Rio Branco to Porto Velho (45 minute flight)

Same day- Porto Velho to Humaitá (4 hours on bus)

Sunday- back to PV (4 hours on bus)

Mon- Ji-parana with President Klein (2 hours by car)

Then we don't know what we'll be doing after that.

So if you don't hear from me, no worries!

And one other thing, with Mother's Day and Skype, I will only have about 45 min so be prepared for that, just wanted to give you a heads up =)

Love you guys!

Elder Sanderson

******He asked me to share the baptism story with Haylee so I did and she said she hoped there were no barracudas in the water. HD replied he was more worried about the stingrays. I decided to google what you should do if you get stung. The stings are fairly harmless but if there is a barb left in the wound you are not supposed to take it out yourself. The directions said to take yourself to the nearest ER. I relayed this information to HD and he writes back "Haha ER, good one mom! I don't think I've told you where I am recently: The Jungle. I'll stick with the big stick idea because at least that is like 3 feet in front of me!" Guess we will pray a little harder for his safety :) I am sure there is a medicine man or something. Ha ha :)

Here are his pictures:

Walking to the river: I love seeing pics of the area.