Monday, December 30, 2013

First Christmas away from home.

 December 29, 2013

I can’t believe that it’s almost 2014! It’s a little bit weird to think that all of next year will be spent as a missionary!  It’s already been almost 6 months, but I am not sure if time is passing quickly or not?  Sometimes it’s dragging, but then I look back and wonder where the time has gone.

Christmas was really weird.  It was my first Christmas away from home, and in Brazil.  I was feeling a little homesick, but I did get some letters which helped me feel better.  Whenever I am feeling down or frustrated or tired, I just read them again and I get kind of energized.  I think that I’ve read one of them at least a dozen times already!  It’s a little bit strange that this Christmas is one of the happiest Christmas’s of my life.  We had a meeting for our zone that was more like a party, and the sisters (all Americans) made pancakes for everyone!  Afterwards we had this “Secret Santa” exchange with very cheap gifts.  It was really a lot of fun and helped everyone in the zone.  Then we got our letters/packages/etc. and let’s just say that my companion said that I was “sweating joy” after I read my letters!  After that, we had lunch with S. (our Mom here in the ward) and watched a bunch of movies and relaxed until we had our other meetings later that night. 
Sooooo I know how Dad feels now when he wants to take the kids out to eat and we all vote on some lame place that he reluctantly takes us to just to please us…. I asked Elder N. where he'd like to go out to eat for a Christmas present from me, and he said Burger King! Haha.  At least it was fun! Funny thing is that I actually liked the break from rice and beans! For my birthday, I think that we'll stop by this pizzeria I saw the other day; It looks super nice and has this Hawaiian theme, so we'll see!

Anyways, I had a lot of luck with the companion that I got! Elder N. and I work well together and we actually get along.  Elder Z’s new companion that he is training, Elder L., is a challenge.  He is a good missionary, but he is very prideful so it is hard to get along with him.  Also, he thinks that he is always right, even though he is a brand new missionary and doesn’t really know what is going on yet.  I am trying my best to get along with him and be a good leader.  I always feel like I am failing, but I guess the only thing that I can do is keep on trucking and try my best to love all the missionaries that I am suppose to be leading. 
We passed in front of a huge cathedral here, and I thought that it was pretty cool. There is not much in the way of cool architecture here so this building stands out a bit.  Cathedrals always seem pretty sad, and but I think that they are pretty awe inspiring. 

Nothing all that exciting happened this week besides Christmas.  We worked and walked, and worked and walked some more.  We had a special fast for this sister-in-law of the bishop’s wife.  The bishop’s wife is one of the people in the ward that helps the missionaries the most.  That was on Saturday, and so we woke up early on Sunday, already in a bad mood (my family understands how I can get when I am hungry).  We got up extra early so that we would have time to bring one of our investigator families to church.  We live a 20 minute walk to the chapel, but they lived another 30 minutes beyond that.  So we walked all the way there but there was only one person in the family awake when we got there.  They tried to wake the rest of the family up, but everyone complained about being too tired.  Uhhhh?  Oh well, I just dragged my tired body 30 minutes back to church. 

At least we were able to teach G. today and he is 100% ready for baptism.  We’ll have to see if he will follow through. I am hopeful for him and his future.

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