So, some stuff went down

It finally happened, I missed a week. But I'm proud I made it 7 months in the field without missing. Anyways, I'll catch you up with last week, and then in another email later, tell you about this week. 

Tuesday Jan 26th: 

We went off to service at a place called Bread of Life. While we were there, a big snow storm came and traffic built up a ton. That made us super late getting home, but the one positive side is the ability to chuck frozen ice at each others' faces. We would roll down the windows and scrap snow off the car and chuck it at each other, haha. And once we got there, I threw one at Elder Slade; it hit him and slid into his pocket. Then he picked it up and threw it back at me, lol. Another exciting thing, an older guy I was teaching who wasn't doing well and was feeling suicidal off and on then stopped responding, just posted on his story for the first time in months, meaning that he's made it after all! I had been so worried.

Wednesday: 

We had my final zone conference in the mission! It was really good, and I had the chance to give my departing testimony with three other sisters. The others were leaving, and I was just getting reassigned, but it was still fun. We practiced rapping the whole ride home, then did a facebook live where we played a game. Elder Meshke chose a topic and then a book of scripture while Elder Slade and I had a race to find a scripture that talks about it. We called it "Bichos and Biscoitos" just 'cause we were eating Oreos while we played. Elder Meshke isn't too familiar with the Bible, so beforehand, I spent 15 minutes explaining that the Old Testament never directly references certain topics, like baptism, and that if he gets a topic like that, use ANYTHING but the Old Testament. But he really wasn't getting it, so I went and wrote on the flash cards OT, if they would be found in the Old Testament. Anyways, we start the game and are a couple rounds in when he pulls out the card baptism, and I kid you not he looks at me, nods, and says "In the Old Testament!" Kkk. So we cut it there and redid that round, but it made for a funny story, haha, and we teased him a bit for it. 

Thursday:

When I do my weekly plans, I do this thing where you look at each person your teaching and write down your vision for that person, then your goals for what that person will do, and your plans to make that happen. Today, Elder Slade showed me the way he implements it, and not only is it super organized but also really effective. I'm excited to bring his way to my new areas. After that we had a member lesson with a guy named Ellwood. He's a really cool guy, and told us his conversion story and about his DJ career. His Book of Mormon has been signed by hundreds of missionaries which is crazy. He accidentally ratted 2 of them out though by telling us a couple missionaries went to his house the other day to see his DJ equipment, which is kinda not allowed during the quarantine. After the day was over we did a video call with our district, and we all played never have I ever. 

Friday:

My last District Council! It was a fun one. I got everyone to sign my transfer journal which was cool. The office elders called me to let me know that my Covid test had accidentally been shipped to the office, so we decided to meet them half way to pick it up. Naturally, we were waiting for them for an extra hour or so, and it would have been faster to just drive to Boston to get it. When we got back, some of the sisters had gotten me a pizza as a going away present which I thought was sweet. We ended the day by going on exchanges, where Elder Meshke and I went with Elder Moody. 

Saturday: 

We had a ton of English classes today. You really only need one person for English class, but normally I would still participate. Except there's no point introducing myself for one class, so while the other Elders did it, I read from my Portuguese Grammar book. I really wish I had been reading it the entire time I've been here. I already know most everything just from talking, but I would have learned a lot faster, haha. It helps a lot of things make sense. We were making cookies tomorrow, so we ran to the store across the street to get flour. Then we realized we didn't have butter when we got home, haha. Luckily the zone leaders did. 

Sunday:

We went to my final Sacrament meeting here. It feels like everything I'm doing these days is the last time, haha. They asked one of us to give a talk, and we convinced Elder Meshke into doing it. He wanted me to, but I kept saying I had already given one in this ward. When we got home, I made the cookies, and we delivered them with some copies of The Book of Mormon, one of whom was to Nancy. She stopped responding to our messages, so in a last ditch effort I wrote my testimony and a message to her in the book, and Elder Meshke highlighted some passages, and we dropped it off at her house. When we got home, we couldn't find my phone anywhere. Which is especially a problem, because I have the sim card. We looked everywhere with no luck. My hotspot was turned on, but the other elders couldn't connect to it, which made us think we had dropped it when delivering stuff. Even worse, I remembered seeing a crazy guy by our car, and the last time I saw my phone was when it was on the dash next to him. And the other elders who were calling me said that someone was active on facebook on my account. After about 30 minutes we got the elders upstairs involved so they could be calling my phone while we drove around. As soon as we left though, we noticed that the car said calling. So I said, wait a minute, turn audio onto bluetooth. And my music started playing. Turns out it slid into the backseat, and my case was black, so it blended in. It was on mute, so it didn't ring, and after everyone disconnected, the hotspot automatically turned off. Guess what, the day's not over. After that, I had my first real Bible Bash. I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty proud of my knowledge of the Old Testament. It helps that I've actually read it all the way through, haha. So when this lady opens up about how temples are of the devil, I knew how to respond. But I decided her learning would be better than the satisfaction I would get by roasting her. So instead of that I just worked with her as well as I could. I can't lie, by the end of the lesson I had corrected her once or twice, but I was proud of myself for holding back. Her statements included but were not limited to: Moses was the devil; the law of Moses came from the devil; God and Heavenly Father are two people; there's no such thing as the holy spirit; Jesus and Messiah are two different people; almost all the scriptures are inspired by the devil other than Isaiah and much much more. Afterwards Elder Slade was shook, and said it was the best modern example of apostasy he had seen in his mission. She was misquoting and making up scriptures as back-up; kept telling us we were going to hell if we believed that the law of Moses came from God; and kept taking things out of context. At one point, I just told the entire history of the Jews from the coming of Moses to a testimony of the fulfillment of the law by Christ. Crazy night!

No Brasil for you

Tuesday:

We left early morning to drop off my covid test in a FedEx drop box before the pick up truck came. I would later learn that this would be my downfall. From there, we went to service where we sorted meat product for 3 hours. One cool thing is that Elder Moody and Elder Thomas were there, so we got to hang out a bit. I talked most of the time to Elder Thomas about Wheel of Time, Stormlight Archive, and working out. After that, I sent all my winter stuff home! My first time sending a package, and I hope I didn't mess it up. Especially because I insured none of the stuff in it. After that, we had one final lesson with Nancy! After she got The Book of Mormon, she read all the stuff we highlighted and sent me a message on facebook thanking me for everything. We marked a lesson for that night, and it went great! We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and explained the Gospel of Jesus Christ to her. I got a screenshot with me and her for old times sake then waved goodbye! 

Wednesday: 

Dang, my last day with Elder Meshke and Elder Slade. I can't lie; it was weird. I've had probably my best start to a transfer so far, and it was sad to be leaving. But I was still more than ready to go to Brasil (ironic).Yesterday, I borrowed the sisters' blow dryer to dry off a sweater I hand washed, plus give them my transfer journal. So in the morning we went to get the stuff, and took one last walk around the park. We even found a really cool snow bear someone made. I got all my stuff together while the other elders signed my book, then wrote in theirs, and we took off to go to Revere! Once we got there, we went and got haircuts together, because everything in Conneticut was closed for the snow storm. It was there I learned something interesting; I speak spanish. Ok ok, not really haha, but I was able to communicate with the barber. After that, we went to a Brazilian bakery Elder Slade used to go to when he worked here. By that time, the other elders were finally home from service. So we made our goodbyes and I made my hellos to Elder Newman, Elder Neeleman, and Elder Feliciano. (Plus Elder Derosia, but he wasn't a part of our original apartment, haha). I called a lady from my old area named Katia and had one final lesson with her, then updated Elder Slade and Elder Meshke on how the lesson went and got to work with Elder Feliciano's phone. I called all the old people I used to teach in Revere, but who they had stopped teaching. I set lessons with 6-7 of my old friends, including Pedro Oliveira and Francis!!! Both people I had invited to be baptized, but they had lost contact with. They were both excited to talk with me, and in Francis's case, he stopped using his old phone, which is why he stopped answering. He only answered this time by a miracle. So he gave me his new number for the other elders to call on Friday. It's really sad when someone you're teaching ghosts you, especially when they were preparing for baptism, so it's really nice to see that not only did it work out, it wasn't because of any negative feelings on his part. Then we went to see Elder Morris to get the key to the chapel. He was stoked to see me, and you already know we took some pics together. From there, I went to the chapel to print out all my flight info. for the next morning. It was then I got an email telling me I needed to register my covid test. I was worried, because the instructions didn't say anything about that when I took the test and sent it in. Then when I made my account, it said the Covid test hadn't been received. I called a bunch of people and everyone told me to sit tight, and that's what I did. We were, however, late back to the apartment, haha. My last thought was that on my last night of my mission in MBM, I'm sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed, exactly what I did my first day of the mission. Same apartment, same spot, haha. 

Thursday: 

And here's the bad news. I woke up to the information that FedEx lost my Covid test, and because of that, I would no longer be cleared to fly to Brasil. My flight was cancelled, but I wasn't too worried. Revere is MY area!!! And I love it here and have a lot of connections to the ward and people being taught. I had a lesson with Augosto too which was AWESOME!!! He still hasn't been baptized, because he can't go to church. But I had some real talk with him, and he gave me a hard promise to go two times this month. We will see! After that, I went to service with Elder Feliciano and Elder Neeleman. We went to a place where people donate stuff for the homeless and needy. We organized random boxes of stuff that makes no sense for 3 hours then I got a call from the assistants. Here's where things spice up. Rather than having me stay in Revere, in my OG area, that is next to the airport, they are having me go all the way to Rhode Island until my flight next week. I can't complain, because I'll be with Elder Bodily, and I love that guy, but I don't have much interest in working in someone else's area for a week. On top of that, the area book app we use for the mission kicked me out, because it thinks I'm in Brazil and won't let me use it which makes it a lot harder to work. AND, the office elders assumed I would be leaving, so last week when they gave everyone funds for food, they didn't give me any. I decided not to complain, because I had enough left over in my account to make it a week. But now I'm staying another week and at this point it's too late for them to put money in, so I have to beg extra money from home for groceries, etc. Anyways, it was still really good seeing Elder Bodily when he came to get me, and his companion, Elder Bradshaw, is a lot of fun. Once I got down there, I got notified that they found my Covid test, and because my connecting flight to Brazil hadn't left yet, I would have been able to go had I just flown on the plane to Georgia lol. (We fou d out later that they wouldn't have let him take the flight to Georgia since it checks him all the way to Brazil.) Oh well. We had exchanges in Rhode Island. The other elders' internet had been down all day, and I said, "I don't mean to brag, but I set up my own router in college," and turned it on and off again, and it started working, haha. Dumb luck.

Friday:

Sooooo, I accidentally took Elder Feliciano's car keys with me, and we had to drive all the way back to drop them off. Once we were home, we also had a Zone training to get to. It was a great Zone training, and I always love meeting new people. From there we parked and sprinted back to the apartment for lessons and had lessons for two hours straight. Only 2 lessons, but both ran long. We had a normal contacting time after that and went to the chapel for an English class. On our way home, we passed by the apartment basketball courts, and the other elders showed me. There were two drunk girls in there who were trying really hard to get us to play with them. They kept saying 5 minutes just 5 minutes, you guys are soooo lame, what are you scared. They thought we had British accents and were telling us we could drink wine with them and chill etc. I pointed out we were wearing white shirts and ties and they suggested we just take them off. After minute or two of them not taking no for an answer, I got annoyed and just walked away. The other elders couldn't leave me, so they were forced to follow and that solved that problem. They kept asking which floor we lived on and saying they lived on the second, so we made double sure to lock our doors that night in case those crazies followed us or something. 

Saturday: 

The other elders had their interviews with President, but because I already did mine I took the chance to study and annotate my patriarchal blessing. It was a blast! We started our fast for Sunday after lunch, and decided to play some basketball for exercise time. When we got there, some other elders from the apartment were there, and what would have been some casual shooting turned into intense game of knockout. The reason I bring this up is because it worked all our appetites up a ton. And we were super thirsty haha. Makes for a stressful contacting time!

Sunday: 

My first time going to a Portuguese ward on the mission! I really liked it, and a lot of the testimonies were amazing! There are a lot of Cape Verdians here, and their accent is hard to pick up, but I still got a lot out of it. Afterwards, a Cape Verdian man started telling me about his mission to Portugal when he was younger. He told us a ton of stories about the racism he saw there, being chased off the street, a kid throwing mud at him and when he asked why the kid said cause he's an n word, (Actually P word, but that's the English equivalent), and people always yelling at them from vans and stuff. It kinda puts into perspective how much simpler my mission is, and I respect him a lot. 

Monday: 

Pretty great P-day. I got to go to District P-day with Bods District, and it was fun. We went to a trampoline park and messed around for an hour and a half. I finally found a sport I'm good at. The one where you stand on the beam and have a big foam stick and try and knock each other off. I can't quite say I went undefeated, but I am ready to go pro, and was declared champ. From there we headed home, let's see what this week holds. I'm optimistic, especially because my covid test came today (even though FedEx mismailed it).  The only problem is that Elder Bodily can't taste anything he eats 😶. If I get covid now I'm gonna be so annoyed, haha. Ate mais 

Brazil!!!!

Tuesday:

Interviews with President were today. He had a bunch of questions about the area, and so I gave him a rundown of how things were going and our progressing friends. Then he gave me some great news; I'm going to Brazil February 4th! Super exciting. The funny thing was that yesterday we went to Costco and for the first time ever bought food for the entire transfer, but now I won't be able to enjoy any of it, haha. Elder Meshke bet me that I couldn't go through all 77 servings of protein powder before leaving. I'm always up to a challenge, so I have to drink 5 scoops a day until I leave! After that whole fiasco, we had a lesson with Micael and Lidia, two new members. They were baptized at the beginning of the quarantine, and despite having almost no member support, and not speaking English in an English ward, they are still active! Now we are helping them on preparing for the temple!!! After that lesson, I got a call from the office elders, and that's when I officially got my info for leaving. 

Wednesday:

So we had to go to the church building to use their computers to sign up for service hours. Unfortunately, we didn't have a key, so we had to drive to the English elders apartment to get their key. Once we had that, we had to go to the church building and find the clerk's office. We were told there would be a key in a drawer that would unlock the drawer that had the rack of keys to the family history center which had the computers. Only problem is that there were multiple drawers of keys. So we had to try every key in every drawer till we got that right one. Obviously, it was the second to last key we found. Then we had to try all those keys until we found the right one for the family history center. The most exciting part of all this is getting home. For some reason, our sim cards cellular data was shut off, so if we aren't on wifi we can't use google maps which led to a confusing ride home. I had been fasting all day for a lesson with Bryce to go well; the lesson was at 9:00 PM. I was nervous, because we were introducing him to the other elders, and I was hoping it would go well. So before the lesson, I put an apple pie in the oven and broke my fast with an entire half of the pie and half a thing of dryers ice cream. It, was, amazing! 

Thursday: 

P-day is ending, so imma speed through this. Went on a walk, got home and had 4 member lessons then a lesson with Marjorie. While I was on Facebook finding, I was talking to a guy who said he was pretty busy and didn't know if he would have time to meet. We were talking a couple days later, and he was telling me about how he had to quarantine, because someone from work got corona. So I took this opportunity to catch him and say, "Now that your quarantining, do you have time for a message," and I got the lesson! Lol. 

Friday: 

We went to district counsel and while we were there we had a lesson. Then after we had a lesson with the guy from yesterday, Everton. He was a really great guy and accepted a commitment to read The Book of Mormon! Later that night, we had a call with a really sweet older lady. She had a stroke and is learning how to talk again, but she's such a tender soul, and I loved her instantly. Finally, we had a lady I had a lesson with once send me 12 minutes of audio recordings including her singing hymns, haha! 

Saturday:

We got back in touch with Mary! I lost contact when I went to Goshan, but she was so happy to talk to us again, and there was a complete change of her countenance. I think she realized how much she missed having the gospel's influence in her life. Now she's much more open to work with us going forward. After that, we finished with a lesson with Bryce. My favorite times of the week! 

Sunday:

Went to church and tried to make Elder Meshke translate, but he respectably declined, haha. After that, I went to Elder's Quorum for the first time in this area. It was so cool to see Michael there. He's so determined to learn English and be a part of the ward. It's so inspiring to see!!!

New Trio in Town

Tuesday:

Today was my last full day with the Goshen Elders. That should have made it a bit sad, but I think it just made us appreciate the day a little more. We had service early morning at the kids' place; we did our normal chores and played some connect 4. On our way home, we tried out a restaurant in their area everyone always talked about called AJ's. IT. WAS. GOOD. I blew a lot of my food money but it was worth it. A steak, a pizzookie, and a lava cake. After that, we made the long drive back to the apartment in Hartford so we could spend the night up there before transfers. Right as we arrived, I realized I left the keys in the other place. Luckily, the zone leaders had a spare. If not it would have meant driving for another 2 hours! It's tricky managing two areas. When we got in, I had to rush to do a lesson with a member named Maria. In the middle of the lesson, our reception office called us to tell me I left one of my suitcases in the middle of the road! So I had to run and go get it in the middle of the lesson, but wait, there's more! I forgot I didn't have they key and got locked out again, so I had to go back to get the spare for the second time that night. After that, I had a lesson with one of my favorite people, Nancy. As always it was fun, and I shared a spiritual thought and invited her to read a scripture from the Bible.

Wednesday:

Today was the day I went to pick up my first new companion, Elder Meshke. He was started in my first district in Revere where we served together for about a transfer. It was great seeing people at transfers, and after 3 months I finally was able to get Elder Bodily to sign my transfer journal. It was an interesting drive up. Elder Meshke is a big talker, and normally so am I, but for some reason I just felt really quiet. It was weird, because I felt so much like Elder Bodily, and Elder Meshke reminded me a lot of myself when I got to the mission. But one thing that did stay the same with me was my ability to lose things. When we got back, we spent 20 minutes trying to find my phone! When we finally did get it, it was in the car where I always put it, in a place I checked 4 times. Since then, Elder Meshke has become really good at instantly finding stuff other elders leave around. We decided to christen our first day together by making some curry. Every single time I make curry, I have to go ask the other elders for their can opener, and I always forget to bring it back. So this time, I thought ahead and brought the can to them. You can imagine my frustration, when I got back and realized I had another can I needed opening. 2 others actually. I decided to avoid the shame, and cried death before dishonor as I used a knife to pry open holes in the other 2 cans. There was blood and sweat, literally, but I got it open. 

Thursday:

We only had one day alone together, but it was a good today. I frequently caught myself remembering my time with Elder Bodily, but switching the roles and being him instead of me. After our 1st contacting session, I laid on the couch for a break. It struck me I was laying down with my feet crossed, hand on my head in the exact same position Elder Feliciano would always rest. I was even wearing the same jacket he did. It cracked me up to think of how my old companions rub off on me. Our first call of the day went through and we got a lesson set from it, which was an encouraging launch to the rest of the day. 

Friday:

Friday we had an early 9:00 lesson with Marjorie on obedience. We shared the story of the Lamanites who threw away their weapons of war and talked about how they were favored of the Lord. Marjorie really connected to the story and was very open to our invitation to read every day from the Book of Mormon. We had a very long drive to pick up Elder Slade, but we had to go early in order to have a lesson in the car with the Relief Society president, Debra Jones. It was a great lesson. In our last ward council, I had received a spiritual prompting to invite her to our lessons with Nancy; today I saw why. As she shared her conversion story, I realized that she had many of the same concerns and background that Nancy does. God really does look after His children, and He is an active part of this work. On our way home, we just talked to each other and all got to know one another, which is one of the reasons I missed our Exit 3 times in a row, and added 40 minutes onto our travel time.

Saturday:

We had district council with our new district. Sorry, no pictures, but every companionship except for 1 changed! After that, we started to make our phone calls. Elder Slade is a fantastic missionary! I would say one of the best in the mission. And I am excited beyond description so see what he can teach me. One of our calls was for a woman named Seana, and apparently Elder Slade sounds like her cousin, because when we answered she started cussing at us and yelling inside jokes and greetings, haha. When she realized, she was full of apologies. That night we had our Walk in the Light program, and it was one of my favorites so far. One story he shared that teared me up, was when he was talking of a bishop who had helped a young boy prepare to enter the temple. He whispered in the boy's ear once he made it, "I knew you'd make it. I knew you could do it." He then went on to say that one day the Lord would say that to each of us. I am excited for that day. There was one awkward episode with Walk in the Light. This entire time I've been here, I've been tagging the wrong Walk in the Light page for Portuguese! I've been tagging some knitting page! haha. Oh well, now I know. After that we had the lesson with Nancy and Sister Jones. My first member lesson, and it was amazing. Sister Jones was such a great help, and Nancy really connected and enjoyed it.

Sunday:

Sadly, Nancy wasn't able to get into the Zoom link. But one exciting thing was that I got my first ever chance to do translation for church today. It was really hard, haha. We only had 2 speakers and one of them spoke in Portuguese, so I even had it easy. After that, we had a lesson with someone I found on Facebook named Katia. She didn't understand very much, but all she knew was that a year ago she went to one of our churches, and she felt something Good and Different. She wanted to know what that thing was! Hold onto that Katia! Our District was 1 away from their finding goal at the beginning of Prime Proselyting (time set aside to look for people interested in hearing our message), so Elder Slade said the next person to find someone to teach would get free Popeyes. You can imagine all of our surprise when we checked again an hour and a half later to see that the Spanish Sisters had found 5 people! Have fun with the Popeyes!!! Later, I was talking to the other elders, and said I wanted to beat my personal record for wide grip pull-ups and get 17. Elder Meshke then said "What?? You can only do 17 pull-ups???" He then told us about how he could do much more than that. When we challenged him to prove it, he explained that because of joint problems, he couldn't straighten his arm all the way, in fact, he could only go a little less than half way down, lol. We cracked up and teased him about that, but it was a really funny moment.