This week, as you may have guessed from the title, I went on an exchange with Elders Goodsell and Johnson. (Division and exchange are the same thing. When I write division, just pretend I said exchange.) But it was great. They are the two best looking elders in the mission. That typical stereotype of a tall, blond, blue-eyed, square-jawed American that Brazilians go crazy for. So, it’s kind of a joke in the mission that street contacting is always a lot easier for them because everyone wants to say hi. And while I can attest that that is true, it also has a lot to do with the fact that Elder Goodsell talks to everyone he passes. Including people in cars, chases down people, doesn't let them walk away, ha-ha. He's really good at that. I have a hard time starting the conversation, but once I'm there I'm a pretty strong contacter. So together we were able to make some really good contacts. We would have less contacts, but each one would be really solid. Elder Johnson is really awesome. He's super funny and has a super big desire to improve his Portuguese and his standards as a missionary. I think that's a thing I've seen from many of the American greenie's I’ve been with my mission; they are always asking, "But what can I improve." I don't know if it’s a culture thing or not, but it was an observation I made. But the division was really good. The mission is focusing on something called ROTA right now: Retidão, Obediência, Trabalho, e Aperfeiçoamento de ensino através o Livro De Mórmon. aka worthiness, obedience, work ethic, and teaching skills especially with the Book of Mormon. They were both really worthy, obedient elders, with a strong work ethic. The only area they really had to improve was on using the Book of Mormon, so we focused on that. I feel like it was a pretty valuable exchange for that reason. But we definitely could have used time better ha-ha. A lot of lessons fell through, and we ended up losing a lot of time just talking and laughing.
We also had a leadership council. It was funny, because the leadership council is only zone leaders and the assistants, and I was district leader for almost a year, so I never went. Then the second I turned assistant they decided to invite all the district leaders. So, we were joking with the other elders about how it’s not even special anymore, ha-ha. But it was awesome. We talked a lot about obedience and the little details of the mission, not making excuses, more effective following up; the mission is definitely headed in the right direction. I do need to learn to talk less though in these meetings. I just love burning missionaries ha-ha. But the elder that talked the most also happened to be an elder who is really disobedient but covers it up really well. Elder Lima did a division with him this week. It’s better that it was him and not me since I was frustrated with him. The fact that he can go home and do whatever he wants, not work, not follow the rules, not care, yet in the meeting talk all about obedience and how important it is and how missionaries need to try harder, etc. So Elder Lima was the best to help them.
Elder Lima had a harder division. Every single point of ROTA was a problem for the elders he was working with, and one of them is someone who has 20 months in the mission and kind of refuses to change because he thinks he knows everything. It’s hard talking to him about obedience, because he makes a LOT of excuses, "It’s not possible to be perfect, you think your better than me because you wake up earlier, you don't need to be perfectly obedient to teach with the spirit, what can you teach me that I don't already know, I have 20 months in the mission." It was definitely a more stressful week for Elder Lima, but he said that he had a breakthrough, and at the end of the week this elder started to show the desire to improve. It’s hard, because this elder is a Zone Leader and Training. But he is also showing a desire to change. If we leave him as zone leader he may continue on as a bad example, and lead the mission further down in progress, but little by little he'll progress. But this elder also happens to LOVE being in charge. And if he is returned to being a normal missionary, I'm 98% positive that any personal progress he could have had will not happen, because he will be bitter. It is a really hard situation, and I have no idea where to go with it. We need to talk to the president in a bit and advise him on a recommendation. It's a tricky situation, ultimately, president will decide.
Oh, fun fact. My visa needed work 6 months ago, and I've been trying to get the executive secretaries to renew it for at least 9 months. Elder S… kept on saying he was just waiting on the government, and that he did it and was just waiting for an answer. I talked to Elder Gonçalves, the new secretary. Ya, turns out that Elder S never even sent the paperwork. He either forgot or just was lazy, and every time I reminded him, he was just like, "Ya ya I'll get to it." Luckily, Elder Gonçalves is amazing and helping me out now, but it's really annoying. I want to be on good terms with the government, so I can come back to Brazil after my mission.
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