After a long week of traveling I find myself traveling again…
Pirates and Pizza*
In the burroughs of the city there resides a hidden tavern, in which only the most arduous of pirates rollick, shouting there chanties till the break of dawn… Unless they’re up on the stage doing Tik Tok dances. This restaurant had to have been on the coolest restaurants I’ve ever been to. A squad of pirates constantly parade around with every type of pizza ever created, passing unlimited amounts to your plate. It was basically heaven. Hot dog pizza, sweet pizza, pizza with chips, pizza with bacon… it goes on forever. As these lads were passing around these blessed goods I hear a shanty shout ELDER GIST!!!! The lights darken and the captain appears beside me, the whole crew then breaks into a crude version of happy birthday. This continues until he pulls out a lighter, sparks it up and urges me to blow it out, the second I do the entire crew breaks out into cheers.
If you thought the story was over… not even close. The wind began to pick up and the crew ran hurriedly to their places on deck. A crack of lightning reveals the Kracken! Somehow he had boarded and taken over the ship!!! As he began to steer the ship, two of the bravest crew members attempted to take back control as they jump up to the ballast just as the fight was about to begin the disco ball dropped and the frat music began to play. They didn’t waste any time to start doing the choreographed Tik Tok dances on the stage.
Transfers
This week I got the news that I’ll be getting a new comp, Elder Miranda is going to another area to be LZ (zone leader). I’ll be with an American this time, hopefully he’s chill I won’t find out who he is until I pick him up from the bus station, president likes to keep it a suprise. Luckily we were able to clean the house well (for the most part) anticipating the transfer. It only took 2 hours of scrubbing, a bunch of sponges, and new supplies from the senior missionaries (an older couple that takes care of the houses) but the bathroom walls are no longer yellow 🥳.
Monkey Madness
Most of the week I was in other cities doing exchanges (working with other missionaries in other areas to see how they do things). For my last exchange of the week (it’s rare to have 1 let alone 2) I met up with Elder Williams* the missionary I would be working with that day in the jungle. A local college had a jungle as part of their campus for studies and stuff, don’t quote me. But we were here helping them out clear out some of the brush or something. I arrived after they were already done and just in time for lunch. (nice😏) It just so happened to be the most Brazil-like lunch. The guy who was in charge of the area was barefoot, he said it was to feel the energy of the earth better. He pulled out his machete and began to chop some coconuts and hand them out (coconut water is aight). But as we were eating and he was off in the brush cutting something down or something, two monkeys ran up in the tree next to us and were trying to steal from us–our 2 feet in diameter chocolate cake–fortunately he wasn’t brave enough to fight off 8 people for it and ran back to the tree. Later, I fed the one coconut. He didn’t like it and would bite it but spit it out, he only liked the chocolate.
Faith and Accountability
We have been teaching this guy for about two weeks but he had yet to come to church, something always came up. This week we had talked to him Saturday and he decided to be baptized!, but if he doesn’t show up to church we cant really baptize him. On sunday we were checking up on all the people who said they would come to church when we passed his house, he wasn’t home, some lady said he was at the market, so we went to the market, and there we found him, we asked him if we was going to church and he said he for sure was, I was doubtful, church started in 40 minutes. When he said he would first have to go to his mom’s house then to his house then he would go to church I thought for sure he was blowing us off. (He lived 20 minutes away) Somehow he was able to do all this and arrive at church early, how he did it I have no idea. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of talks on the topic of accountability, this guy was the perfect example of being accountable to his work and keeping his promises, no matter the cost. I’m sure he had to hustle like crazy and maybe he didn’t end up going to do all the things he was planning, but his word was his law, and he wasn’t willing to trade that for a couple extra stops on his way. It’s never too late to start being accountable.
Notable Events
-One of our ubers was watching TV on his console as he was driving* I don’t even know how he got it on there.
-I spent 85 bucks (reals) on sushi*
-I spent 5/7 days this week away from Carpina (my house)
-My teeth started turning yellow (they basically only drink soda here (I’ve stopped drinking soda))
-Some old guy kissed me on the cheek (bruh)
*Photos/videos of these events are in the Google photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cnvNHFLuWEPTfcKj7
P.S.
Forgot to send the talk. Give this a listen I promise it’s worth it. https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/tad-r-callister/becoming-men-and-women-of-integrity/
P.P.S.
If you read the original email, you’ll notice some edits from my Mom