This week was weird... We had
some companionship issues in our house (not us by the way), but yeah. Was
annoying. As a result, they decided to stop talking to each other and we had to
exchange with them Friday and Saturday. Those two days were completely wasted.
I followed one around while he moved at a slug pace (I would have led if I
could have, but he had "appointments" to get on. Yeah... Apparently
Elder George had just as bad a time because his exchanger-guy decided to NOT
him Elder George lead (although he was supposed to). So basically none of the
stuff that our area needed done got done, our investigators did not receive
lessons, and it just felt like a waste of time. Oh, and did I mention that one
of them was acting like a little girl all week complaining about the other?
Very much less than friendly... Don't get it. I think he's a great guy. Happens
I guess. DRAMA!!! Don't like it. Never have, never will.
But, now I'm back with Elder George, back with productivity and
efficiency. Very happy... Oh, and the beginning of last week was fantastic. So
for an idea of what I mean, we had more lessons this week than any other, even
though we got virtually none the last two days. Heh :) Now we get what's going
on and how to do it best. This week is going to be great... even though we had
to cut most of our investigators this week :( We will just find more.
Transfers were in fact today. I did not in fact move, or
Elder George obviously. Both of the Assistants (E. Craig and Nepomuceno) stayed
as well. However, both E. Alves and E. Almeida left. Really is sad, I was
learning a lot from Almeida whenever we were together. He is a grand total of
... 26 years old! Oldie. But he knows the scriptures INSIDE AND OUT. Literally,
it's impossible to know the bible better than him, and Book of Mormon too
kinda, but not quite impossible. And since he doesn't know English (but
understands how hard learning a language is), I learned a bunch of Portuguese
as well. I've found that the people that tried to learn a language at some
point are generally easier to talk to and more forgiving when you mess up.
As for stories, I really don't have any. I can hardly
remember the beginning of the week since the last few days have been so long.
And those long days were not interesting at all. Except that we determined 'no
one' likes Elder Almeida.
One of the members (one of my favorites) has a poodle. A
kinda testy poodle. Reminds me of Tinkerbelle a lot of the time, and Tigger
sometimes. Anyway, being the animal charmer that I apparently am? I managed to
pet it and be his friend. They say that's rare. Elder Almeida however had no
such luck. Dog would come up to me and I would pet it, he would be happy, and
all is well. Then Elder Almeida would go to pet it and he would get grumpily
barked and growled at. So I had to say, 'Ele só não gosta você' (he just
doesn't like you) which, after an unusual amount of people that completely
ignored his 'good night's in the street, turned into 'Ninguem gosta você' (No
one likes you). So that was kinda the explanation of everything that went wrong
the last couple days. If someone falls down the stairs, yeah, it's because the
stairs don't like Elder Almeida.
Yeah... Wish I had more to share, but that week literally was killed by just one elder. I am reminded of the talk by Elder Uchtdorf about how one missionary can ruin it for many others... Yup. I now have a very solid testimony of this.
Will try to have lots of good experiences this week to share about, okay?
And no, I really really really do not want to be carrying
five pairs of shoes around. If/when these ones die I will be very sure to
inform you, I do still have two more pairs of dress shoes other than the ones I
like. Thanks though :)
Have a great week, have fun with the long trip, don't be
sick anymore, and good luck with the moving process.
Talk to you all later!
Tchau,
Elder Funnell
