Food Adventure and Laughter (12/28/20)

We had lots of food adventures lately, in the sense that we ate at a lot of different places. Nothing too exciting, though. We just ate at a lot of different places. Some members brought over some money, and it was to the point where we didn't really need to buy food. So we tried a lot of new places because we had money and because my companion was leaving [transfers were the week of December 8]. I get to spend some more time here in the wonderful Tallahassee 1st and 5th wards. My new companion came from Jacksonville; he was there for just around 6 months--actually the same area as my first companion here. We've had lots of laughs these last 3 weeks; we laugh at random stuff. Here's a few examples. 

Sugar: We have received lots of sugar in the last few days and we have eaten a crazy amount of it and it has taken quite the toll on our bodies... BUT! There is a silver lining, and it is humor. I ate 2 ice cream sandwiches, and my companion ate 2 popsicles. Then he said he was done, so he walked into the kitchen to see me eating a cookie and we both laughed for like 10 minutes. The other elders were a little concerned as to what was happening, so they came over to see us just in the kitchen laughing our heads off, me holding a cookie and him holding a popsicle stick. You just can't make this stuff up hahhaa. 

Christlike attributes: Before zone conference, we had to read all the Christlike attributes and then send a video to the zone group chat of our companionship saying what we learned about the attributes. We first tried talking about faith, but we were laughing so hard because we were trying to speak in Portuguese and it wasn't working. Same with charity, virtue, knowledge, etc. The second the camera comes out, we start laughing. 

Christmas was great. We went to a member's house on Christmas Eve and then 3 members' houses on Christmas day. It was a great time. We got breakfast, came home, called home, then had a late lunch/early dinner, then had a normal-time dinner. All the food was so good. We gave somebody a turkey also. Good stuff. 

We also went caroling and picked a bunch of satsumas. I had never heard of satsumas until I got here, but they're just an orange with a tangerine. The caroling was a fail, though. I was opposed to it, and then we did it and it was, eh. At least we got to spend time with great people.

Hope all is well with everybody who has made it this far. Enjoy the new year; make some goals, and do them! Here are some pictures. Hope y'all enjoy these more than the email haha.

Here We Are Again (12/7/20)

Sorry y'all for the 3ish week hiatus. I have my paper brain next to me, and I have realized that y'all didn't miss a whole lot of anything. There were a few things here and there but really, long story short, not much has happened. 

A few weeks ago I went on a trade off, and we ended up going to 3 different Subways just to get a sandwich--the one on campus closed an hour early, the 2nd one we went to didn't exist (there's a place that changes oil there now), and finally, the 3rd one we went to, 100% out of our area. We didn't know at the time, and we got sandwiches. This is a big debate between missionaries: Subway, Jimmy John's, and Firehouse Subs--which is the best? 

I gave my first training at district council. It went really good in my head, but then when I gave it nothing I said made any sense. On paper I had mapped the whole thing out, and then the words that came out of my mouth were the exact opposite. Interesting. 

chilly day

We went to a YSA party thing that we didn't know about and it turned out super good. There were a ton of people there and a lot of really fun games. We had a BBQ place cater all the food, and we ended up taking home a ton of brisket, mac and cheese, beans, and toast. That was our lunch and dinner for the next few days. We also got a gallon of lemonade, and I drank that stuff like water until my body decided we actually needed water. 

We had a friendsgiving with our district, and it was good. I made a pumpkin drink, and it turned out to be a success... not. I doubled the batch because it was so good, and then nobody drank it. So I just had a huge pot of drinkable pumpkin pie. nice. Not really haha. It took up a ton of space in my fridge. 

We took some cookies to some members, and it went really well. I went on a tradeoff with the zone leaders, and it was awesome. We just visited a ton of less-active members and talked with them. It was really fun to see them, and you have a weird sense of confidence when you are in somebody else's area. I think it's because you'll never see any of those people ever again. We ended up playing volleyball after we bought a turkey, and the people who were going to receive said turkey canceled on us. I found out if we are just having fun I am kinda decent at volleyball. I think that's how it is with anything: if I play for fun then I'm kinda good, but then competitiveness gets introduced and everything goes down the drain. I can't do it haha.

Thanksgiving was awesome. We went to a member's house at noon for a lunch, so good, then went to another member's at 2 and ate even more food, then went to different member's at 5 strictly for dessert--that's all they had there. We were planning on going to another member's house at 7, but there were some things that came up :/ oh well. Can't complain!

My comp had a birthday, and we built a deck, well, started to, then we went to Chili's and ate. I was a little skeptical, but it was actually kinda good. I haven't been in a long time, like, back when I was a kid we would do birthday dinners and I would always choose super greasy places, but I vaguely remember going to Chili's once but don't remember anything other than I saw the kitchen and thought it was on fire. heh.

I tried teaching the first bit of the restoration to somebody (another missionary), and it was basically getting on the struggle bus. Goodness. I forgot literally everything. It came back to me after a bit, but it made me realize I kinda only memorized specific things. Interesting how languages are. Yeah, sure, I grew up with English and can express myself better in English, but it made me realize the different ways I had to express myself and communicate in Portuguese.

I realized how many missionaries are going home this transfer, and it's a lot. I kinda feel like when I first met them, and they said they had 15, 16, 18, 20 months in the mission, that it would just always stay like that. But that's not really how time works. And now they're gone. Missions are weird: you connect with people, they leave, you may never see them again until we all meet "before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge" or you'll see them at BYU or BYU-Idaho... either way, it feels like you're never going to see these friends ever again, even though they mostly live in the Salt Lake Valley. Oh well. Time will tell.

It got a little chilly here in Tally, for some reason. I didn't know Florida got cold. My weather app said it was 32 degrees, and I looked at Goiania and it was 80 at the time with a high of 93 I think. Heh. I have often wondered what I would be doing in Brazil if I never left. Sweating. That is what I would be doing. We got some frost on our car the last few days also. And have been getting a ton of fruit from members: oranges, satsumas, lemons, etc. 

We had a fun little birthday party for a recent convert that we baptized, and we found out she loves tacos. So we made her a ton of tacos and a cake. It turned out a lot better than I had expected (given that I didn't expect much from 2 elders who don't know how to plan much of anything). We are good at daily planning, not party planning. You learn how to fill your day with meaningful activities, but how to plan a get together/party??? Nope. Nu-uh. No way. Leave that to the sisters; maybe they know. 

We had a lot of fun this last Friday and Saturday. We went over to somebody's house. Their son is in the online MTC, and he's about to get shipped off, but he was like, "Hey Elders, before the devotional, you wanna go for a ride?" Now, the first time I had gone over there, sitting in their driveway was a Shelby GT500. So, without hesitation I said yes. heh. I wish my dad could have been there because I was always trying to convince him that I needed a powerful car. A loud car, but not too loud. still gotta be nice to the neighbors. And this just brought back every single memory of me trying to convince my dad to let me get something like this. I can truthfully plead the 5th for how much fun we had because I couldn't see the speedometer from my seat. :) We attempted to watch a devotional after but couldn't focus, and we ended up eating cookies, pizza, and chocolate milk. What a day. What a wonderful day.

The very next day we went disk golfing with the elders quorum, and what a party that was. We grilled after, and I ate way too much. Burgers and dogs. I often forget how much better they taste on a grill and not made in our house. But it was a welcome tender mercy. We did some service after and had a good time there. We ate there too! You get lots of food as missionaries.

the frost

There was something I wanted to share that was spiritual, but I have slept since then so I forgot it. But, I miss hymns and you should too. Y'all should go through some of your favorite hymns this next week and just read the words and look at the scriptures in the bottom right corner. Sometimes they don't make any sense, but other times they are amazing. So go for it!

Also transfers were this last week, and I am staying another transfer in Tallahassee. I'm getting a new companion. I think he also served in Brazil before this, or he was called to Brazil. Not sure if he made it or not, but I'll find out on Friday! 

Also I thought I had way more pictures, but not much of anything happened sooo, here's these two.