59 weeks - back to Manaus!

Hey there family of mine!

Lots of stuff to say (I think) and only a little time to say it! That,
and I haven't slept in the last 36 hours, so I don't really want to
take to long here, my bed is calling me before the end of P-day. So,
let's start with the big news: Yes, I got transferred! I finally left
Cruzeiro do Sul and am already loving my new area! I like my new
companion, Elder Lipp who is from Texas, and we are both ready to work
our butts off this transfer! I got sent back to Manaus, and am now
serving in the neighborhood of Solimões (i think I spelled that
wrong). It is the poorest area in Manaus, but the members here have
already embraced us with open arms! They have told me welcome to the
area about three times and I don't think anyone else has ever done it
once haha. I also got called as the District Leader, so I now have to
give trainings for my district (6 elders) every tuesday. I'm excited
for the new opportunity to learn how the mission leadership works =)

Alright, so we had a pretty crazy and also slowly fast week. I have
some stories and then I'll get off of here for the week =)

We were in the street the other day in Cruzeiro travelling to some
appointments. As we approached one of the roads that we were getting
ready to go down, we saw that there had been a motorcycle crash.
Nobody was hurt, but we still wanted to see what had happened. As we
got closer, our Crianças da Alegria were all to be seen sitting in the
middle of the street (which was blocked off) and watching the cops
talk to the people. We called them over to us and asked what had
happened. They replied nothing, but that six fish had died. We were a
little confused until we looked at the road and saw that one of the
motorcycles had been carrying fish which had fallen during the crash.
We then left to go to our lessons with the parents of these kids,
however, the fish don't end at this point in the story. We got to our
lesson and were teaching one of the moms of these kids, when one of
her sons comes running up and asks, "mom, where is the carving knife?"
She replied, "Why do you need a carving knife?" To which the boy
replies, "We got some fish and we are going to grill them out back!"
Elder Calcagnoto and I couldn't believe what we were seeing and
couldn't help but laugh haha. It doesn't matter where you go in the
world, kids will always be kids.

The only other adventure that I had this week, was our trip to Manaus.
It was two Elders and I who left Cruzeiro do Sul together. We had to
buy our bus passes and then caught the bus to Rio Branco Saturday
morning at 8am. We were on the bus for 10 hours, and only slept and
played cards. We were happy it was only ten because we were planning
on twelve =) It's going to make road trips seem so much easier at
home! We got to Rio Branco about 6pm and had to wait until 8 at the
bus station for our ride to pick us up because we didn't have a phone.
He finally got there, and we got taken on a tour of the city, Rio
Branco is beautiful and I really hope I serve there one day! We then
got taken out to a quick dinner called a x-tudo (they can't say
cheese, so they say "sheez" which is made with x). It was a steak,
grilled chicken, sausage, egg, cheese, tomato, lettuce, and hot dog
wienie all slammed down onto a hamburger bun! It was probably the
greatest thing I've ever eaten and I am sure I felt myself get fatter
haha. We finally got to the Rio Branco house around 10 or 10:30 and
stayed up talking until around one or two with the missionaries there.
We got up on Sunday and had to go to church to help with classes and
baptisms and things like that. We went throughout our day and then
didn't even bother going to sleep last night because we had to catch a
flight for Porto Velho at 2:30am. We caught our flight to Porto Velho
and had to stay at the airport waiting for our flight until about 9am.
We then left for Manaus and got to Manaus just after 1pm. I found my
new companion and we headed to our area where the members had made
lunch for us and then dropped us off at home. I just want to sleep,
but we are going to have to go out and work in a little bit because we
have appointments already. It will be a long rest of the day, but I
know Heavenly Father will help.

One more quick story from the plane, I got to teach a lesson at 3am to
the guy sitting next to me! He was asking me about the missionaries
and what we do, so I explained it to him. We began talking like we
were old friends, and talked the entire hour to Porto Velho. It was
even cooler because we were switching between English and Portuguese!
He is a translator for American tourists in Manaus and so he spoke
really good English compared to other people we talk to. He has only
been studying for about a year, and speaks as well as I now do thanks
to Portuguese 24/7. I taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he
said he believes 100% in what I said. It was a really fun experience
=)

That was really about it, sorry the travel plans were so long! But it
was just one more adventure for Elder Sanderson =) Thank you for the
sports news again too!!!!! Sucks about the Cougars, but I am happy
with the rest. I hope the Royals win too! I hope the caps improve...

That could be one thing you could do for me before I come home! Buy me
some caps and nats stuff. I mostly just want a hat from each haha,
don't know why I'm on a hat kick, but it happens.

Love you and miss you all!

Elder Sanderson