The Rona (10/26/20)

Just like the emperor strikes back in Star Wars, the Covid virus strikes back against missionaries. We have had our first few missionaries get Covid in my mission and in Tallahassee. Spooky. Just in time for Halloween, right? They can go around dressed up as the virus because they are the virus. heh. It'll scare people more than a haunted house. Probably. But other than that, we had a great week--not super eventful and crazy but transfer calls got pushed back because of the quarantining missionaries and the Covid missionaries. 

the district

We called a referral, and she answered right away and said she wanted a Book of Mormon. We took her that and a Bible, and we then asked when we could meet with her again. She said the next day. So cool. We went over, and we talked about the Introduction and explained a little more of it to her and had a nice discussion. We then talked about some dude's weed he was smoking across the parking lot. Sounded like he was going to throw up he was coughing so hard. Yucky. 

We bumped into somebody at Walmart while on a trade off, and he asked us what the word of the day is. We all looked at each other a little confused because he caught us off guard. So we talked about love, and he was quoting Bible scriptures I had never heard of in my life. Nice. We were standing in the middle of the doorway for the exit just talking. Nobody seemed to mind because they just started talking to other people. Nice. We then gave somebody a water bottle. Good stuff today.

We went to the institute, and I was on the Church's website and they asked me to take a survey about the website I was on and it was kinda cool. I wanted to put in and tell them to say hi to my dad if they know him or see him because I think the survey was going to the people who made the website. They were asking about the layout and design of it. I also read a book. The institute library is full of books that I want to read but I'm like, uh, 600 pages?? Nope. I don't have a whole year to be here in the YSA. 

a nice sunrise

We also talked to a few students, and they taught me a lot about school and sound waves and physics. I don't remember anything about the physics, but they are using physics and a computer program to make a filter to filter out background noise in the phone microphone so you can even use it in a loud place and hear just the person you are talking to. Way cool. Also found out that you don't have all of your classes every day, and they can be varying amounts of time. And when the guy who says he is getting a doctorate in physics says he still has free time, it made me feel better about college. I am still trying to figure out if that 'free time' was the time he slept at night or if it was legitimate free time. 

We did some service at a member's shop and we legit just swept things up and threw a few things away, and he was like yeah just take a case of soda, one for each of you. So my comp got his favorite, Diet Coke, and I got some Sprite because I just saw it and there were too many options. Now, if he had the Coke they had in Brazil, I would have already drunk that 24 pack. It was very generous of him to do that seeing how we have had maybe 4 cans of each. 

Also this is why you don't put honey
in the microwave. It says to not to, but
I did because I thought it was stupid.
Guess not.

We had the assistants give a training at district council, and they gave us little cap guns and squirt bottles and told us to spray the missionaries who were trying to teach the first vision. It was a lesson about the spirit and Facebook and how being on Facebook is like having people spray stuff and make noises and take away from the spirit as we try to teach. Accurate example because you get distracted on Facebook if you open it for more than 4 minutes. 

I made some enchiladas, and then they were gone. Like, where do 14 enchiladas go when my companion and I had only 4? Well, 10, but still! Where do 10 enchiladas go? The world may never know. But the other elders made some chili and it was HOT, like, make your snot abandon ship immediately and your stomach tell you to abort the mission. But it was way good, so we kept eating and hiccupping and coughing and sneezing and breathing like dragons. And we were outside. So just kinda everything against us at that time. So I ate a bunch of ice cream after. 

A spiritual-ish thought: in Mosiah 26:30, it says that as often as we repent, the Lord will forgive us. SO, if you ask for it and actually mean it and want to change, He will forgive you. Nice right? It is. 

some spooky fog for the spooky season

Cancellation (10/19/20)

I feel like everything this week fell through or got canceled by unknown factors. Kinda lame but it gotta be like that sometimes. While on the Struggle Bus, there are still good times. Along with my worsening memory loss (diagnosed by yours truly) and everything else getting canceled or falling through, there was still a pretty good-looking silver lining. 

A wonderful member brings cakes for the elders' birthdays.

Remember my flu shot last week? My arm was sore for like 4 days, kinda lame. But that's ok because we had a nice district council and we got Wendy's after and my frosty tasted like an actual frosty, not an expired garbage sour cream-tasting mess. This is when everybody realized that I'm about as plain as they come, like, Wendy's 4 for 4, bbq sauce, a hamburger, vanilla frosty, the fries. That's about as plain as it comes haha. They also noted my monotone-ness. Nice. The discoveries they are making. 

We had an awesome institute class, and we talked about 3 Nephi 22 and 25. Very interesting take on them, and I learned a lot from the teacher. The institute classes are way fun; the YSA are way fun. Go to institute! Except the parents--probably don't show up... we love you but like, we will see you at church and at home. Nothin' against ya but like, yeah. :) 

I was thinking about what somebody said at a dinner a few days ago. They were siblings. The brother said he was on a date and his sister stopped him and was like, oh, so it's a date now? He's all, yeah, what else would it be? Uhhhh, carpooling? It was hilarious. I also tried to do some ab workouts, and I was like these aren't doing anything but I woke up the next day and couldn't sit up hahaha. That sucked. You don't realize how often you use your core until you can't use it. 

We had dinner at a member's house, and they made a ton of really good food and the classic banana pudding. Like 2 bites in my body was said I don't want this anymore, so I will reject it if you keep eating. So I stopped eating for like 5 minutes and was like ok stomach you suck, there's food coming whether or not you want it. We were just fine after that little mishap. Sometimes we just need to "reprove betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost" (D&C 121:43). I then listened to Clair de Lune like 6 times on repeat. My poor companion, bless his heart, out of nowhere he has to listen to the same song over and over again. It's a great song though, so he can't complain. 

We moved a fridge, and it was really interesting because the old fridge had to be quite literally ripped out of the house. I felt kinda bad because we were pulling pretty hard, and it didn't sound good when it came out. But all is well. We gave somebody a blessing, and he was way cool. He's a freshman, and he's been sick a ton with not Covid and we were like yeah we can give you a blessing. He's living in a 4-bedroom house, and it's just him and 1 other person. It's so nice haha. That's the way to go. 

We were at a dinner, and there were a few mishaps. First, the food was about half-way done being prepared when we showed up, oops. Second, I can't speak English anymore. We were playing Apples to Apples, and I got the word eccentric. I say, e-ken-trick. They looked at me like I had a 3rd eye in the middle of my forehead. Like ok I'm sorry I have never seen such a weird word in my life, and I failed every spelling test my freshman year of high school. I have no idea what that means. But I ended up getting the last laugh when they gave me a pumpkin pie for my birthday. It was way nice of them, but when we got home I gave some to the other elders.

Sunday was by far one of the best days. I talked to a high councilor, and he served a mission in Brazil too and he grew up in the hood of Tallahassee. He's like a 6 foot 3 white boy that can touch his head on the basketball rim, and the stories he has are amazing. Like, God really needs him alive, his stake president in Brazil was Elder Soares, and so many other stories. It reminded me of when I was in Brazil. God gives many people many experiences. Some more than others. 

We also just tie dyed shirts, and it was interesting. Some people just washed everything out immediately. We read the instructions after everything was all said and done, and we did literally everything wrong haha. But it turned out ok in the end. 

Wow-o-wow (10-12-20)

This week was pretty awesome, but there were a few parts that weren't as awesome. Like getting a flu shot today. Not so awesome. And trying to talk to my Brazilian homies, but they are using Portuguese slang. I think it's funny they think I understand the Portuguese slang, but I am still trying to just understand what Portuguese they are speaking. Oh well. It'll come. But other than that, there hasn't been much of any bad which is cool. So here's the good of the week!

We went and did some service, and it was really interesting. We pulled onto this dirt road, and there's just a kid in the middle of the road with a gun. Like, he looked like he was 8 or 10, and he's just got a gun. It was probably a BB gun, but still. Kinda sketchy. Then we did service, and there was the biggest spider I have seen yet. I tell you what. Take the tip of your thumb and go to your wrist. That's how big this boy was. It was disgusting. Big no no. Yucky yucky. We got all gassed out because we put a lawn mower in the back of our car. 100% against the mission rules, apparently. Hehe oops. 

We texted a few people from the YSA, and honestly it is sometimes--often times--way better than trying to text our referrals because the referrals never respond but the YSA kiddos are a lot of fun to text because they will actually talk to you! So we were talking to a few, and one is from where another elder is from and they went to rival high schools I think. Nice little small world story because the world is actually really small. We got some Taco Del or Bell or whatever that one is called. A member brought it over, and we were so excited because, honestly, being on a mission that place tastes really good for no reason whatsoever. 

So we bought some cornbread mix at the store for 49 cents and made it today, and I tell you what that was amazing. One of the best investments I have probably ever made. But still, 49 cents, 1 egg, and 2/3 cup of milk. That's like maybe 85 cents in total. Probably. We also went to the institute, and Elder Weaver wrote a talk for church and I tried to read. But I couldn't read because all I could hear was the keyboard clicking and people talking and the ac unit running, so I didn't do much reading. Oh well. 

These next few days were fun. It was my cousin's birthday on the 9th, then an elder in the district was on the 10th, then I was on the 11th. Lots of fun. And that other elder's younger brother is on the 12th. Lots of birthdays in very few days! Lots of cake too. I am seriously going to get diabeetus. But today was the day that BYU emailed Elder Weaver, and he checked his email probably 35 times today. It was hilarious. His heart rate was probably at like 150 the whole day. We were doing service when he got the email, and he started yelling and it was hilarious. He got in, and an abnormal amount of stress left his body. He was very relaxed after that. But the service was good; we did more yard work, and I was given gummy bears and an old water bottle that they found in the lost and found. Nice. 

We almost knocked on the wrong door to go do service at 8 am, and when we found the right house he told us that it is a blessing we did not knock on his neighbor's house. I wonder why. But we ripped out a bunch of weeds and a tree and lots of pokie vine things. We then went home, and I got some donuts ubered to my house (for my birthday) during the 20 minutes I was there. Then we went and did more service with another member and his vending machines. It is always fun doing that. He took us out to Burger King after. That got us through our zone conference part 2. Those are kinda snoozers sometimes. So we ate at 3, then got ready and ate dinner at 5 with a member in the YSA. I don't know how it happens, but sometimes when we get fed we get fed a ton multiple times during the day. And it is always on one day, never spaced out throughout the week. But hey! Food is food even if you are so full you can't eat any more.

I started my fast Saturday night after eating a donut, and then ended my fast on Sunday by eating a donut. I am living my absolute best life. My stomach may disagree, but I don't care! Well, I do but right now I don't. Church was great. A bunch of people were talking to us and we had an awesome lesson after, then after that we had a great bible study, then after that we had a nice dinner courtesy of the other elders, then after that they decided to make a cake! So we have been going crazy with all the food and sugar intake. We might all get diabeetus. That's why the prophet has asked us to take vitamins, right? haha. They also gave me a baseball and some pens!

Today was about as chill as the refrigerator. We got flu shots this morning, and I don't really like needles, and it wasn't that bad. I just need to remind myself that getting a shot isn't really that bad. PTSD I guess. We bought some food there because we got gift cards because we got our flu shots. We also bumped into a member, literally--he threw his shopping cart at us, and a bunch of people were like uhhhh what's happening. It was hilarious. A random guy said we were fake Christians because we wouldn't give him money, and then said he was going to kill us. We got in the car, and I started laughing and my comp was freaking out. Good times :D

Bug's gift

Fun little piggy newton

Short-Term Memory Loss (10/5/20)

Just like last week, I am losing my mind even more. I woke up on Friday ready for Conference. Not yet. Then I woke up on Sunday and started to get ready to go to the store because I thought it was P-day. My goodness. This is taking a whole new meaning to the Spirit will bring all things to your remembrance. I need that more than ever so I don't come home early needing to go to a memory-loss center or something. 

This last week was pretty great. I finally did something I have wanted to do since I was a kid: buy a good pair of boots. So I did. I ended up buying a pair, putting them on at home, buying another pair, then returning the first pair in the space of 2 hours. heh. But the second pair are way better. They are actually comfortable and fit my foot. 

Our district leader and his companion ate habaneros because we are doing little weekly challenges for motivation for us to do something. We almost met our goal, but they still ate them. One is sorta from Mexico and he was just fine, but his companion? He kinda died. But he's okay now. 

Our new challenge--the 12 members in the district--is to do service 24 times in one week. As of today, we are at 23. It ends at district council tomorrow. We have been doing quite a bit of service. We never did service in Brazil, so it's kinda nice here to do some service. 

My comp is doing this way cool little language study through the online MTC. I would have thought he would have too much PTSD from the online MTC. I probably would have. But I like to sit in and listen a little bit. Also somebody got pulled over at 4 am in front of our house. I thought there was a strobe light outside. Nope. Just the good ole coppers doin' their job.

We had zone conference on Friday, so we really got a spiritual fill. There were so many things said, and I was fighting to keep my eyes open sometimes because I slept like garbage the night before, like 4 hours tops. Some days really are like that. There were some great trainings after, and it was, all in all, very nice and spiritual. 

We had Conference. We did service that morning; I shared a scripture, and then we left. We did quite a bit of yard work--cut down some trees, pulled some vines, etc.--then went and watched Conference. So good. Then we went and helped another member put more old vending machines in a dumpster, and I just about fell off of one. Long story short: rules are in place for a reason... heh. Bend them, break them, or actually follow them, there will be consequences. Sometimes the consequence is safety, and sometimes it's a broken leg. Then after that we watched more Conference, then we played some soccer with some people the Spanish elders are teaching. It was good fun other than I don't speak Spanish and I haven't run since like my senior year of high school. So I was of very little use to them. I then watched the women's session of Conference, and that was great too. Busy day. 

I thought Sunday was Monday, and it wasn't. The other elders said we should go to the church and watch Conference, so we walked there. The parking lot was closed YESTERDAY for a football game. We didn't drive because the elders said it was still closed. I said it wasn't. They told me I was wrong and it was still closed. And it came to pass, when we got to the church, yea, lo and behold, the parking lot was not locked up. Oh well. On our way there, somebody yelled twice that we are living a lie, somebody drove by and moaned really loud, and then somebody yelled that we were looking good or something.

I feel like I am going around like a chicken with its head cut off. I just have all these things I need to do for the next 6 months to prepare myself for Conference and things I need to improve. We did more service today, then painted pumpkins with the district. Got me thinking: I want pumpkin pie. We bought a bunch of ingredients for things like enchiladas and creamed corn. We are just putting corn in everything because we still have 7 pounds of it. I don't even know if it has health benefits because with how much I have been eating it probably isn't healthy.

Here's a little spiritual stuff. King Benjamin in Mosiah in the Book of Mormon said these two things: When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God and we need to put off the natural man (or woman) and become as a little child, humble, meek, submissive to the will of God. When we serve others and love God enough to let Him take the wheel, life really goes better. There is more love at home, and we reinforce our foundation. I invite you to think outward: "How can I help_________?" or listen to little thoughts that come to your mind. All good things come from God. If it encourages you to build your faith or the faith of others, it comes from God and you should really do it. Okay, that's all. Drink some water.