Forty Six Weeks

Hello everyone!

Well this has been a very different week than the usual, to say the least. We didn't have a whole lot of lessons, for various reasons, but it has been a very eventful week regardless.

In chronological order:

First, we had divisions this Tuesday, so I got to spend the day with a Chilean. It was a lot of fun and I learned about some things that I can improve on to better my abilities as a missionary, and we also had a couple of interesting lessons, but more or less nothing too out of the ordinary.

Next, on Wednesday we had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader, but the other Elders had the keys to the chapel (where we normally have the meeting) but couldn't make it to the meeting so we had to have the meeting just sitting in his car. It was mildly amusing, but he brought pepas and juice, so it was okay.

Thursday we were able to perform service for a less active member, helping her to clean things off of her roof that the previous home-owner left behind so it was fun being able to help out with a project like that. Doing service like that in the mission is super fun because it doesn't happen too often, as you normally spend most of your time teaching so we enjoyed it.

Friday then came the biggest change - we were eating lunch with a member when one of our mission president's assistants called us to say that we were going to have a flash (when someone changes to a different area on short notice in the middle of a transfer) and that my companion Elder Dominguez was the one that was going to leave. 

So, Saturday morning he left for Moron and I received a new companion; a Brasilero with 3 months in the mission named Elder Pinheiro. I am his 3rd companion, and this is his second area, and so he is by far the newest in the mission that I have had as a companion. That combined with the fact that I only have 3 weeks in this area myself means that the coming weeks should be pretty interesting as well. He works really well though and we get on fine, so we should have some good success together.

Other fun tidbits to share then:

1. I found a gecko outside of our pench last Monday and was able to grab ahold of him. He had already lost his tail and his stomach was somewhat scraped up but he was a fun little guy. We're not allowed to have pets in the mission, or I would have kept him, but I do have a mint plant that has a few bugs on it that I have been fighting with and so I put him on it to rest and he helped me kill a few but was gone the next day.

2. The whistling man - every night, for the street that passes by right outside of our pench, there is a man that passes by walking his dog that puts a smile on the face of everyone when he goes bye (the entire neighborhood already knows who he is). The reason being is that he goes for a walk with his dog, a giant black mop of a thing, and he personally lopes along walking as if his joints were elastic, and he always has earbuds in listening to music, and so he also whistles. He whistles super loud, which is how you know he is coming but what makes it fun is that he doesn't whistle anything in particular, and doesn't even whistle in tune to the music (or if he does, I have no clue what music it is). It always puts a smile on your face at the end of the night though.

3. Kid that always says hi in the street. There is a kid (about 11 years old) that always runs up to say hi and talk to us when we pass by the street where we live. Elder Dominguez told me that he doesn't go to school, and just spends his entire day outside, without his parents even watching him. This last week though, he asked us  "Do the other kids over there (the other side of our area, where we told him we were heading) say hi to you?" It made me kind of sad, because really he just wanted someone to pay him attention and make him feel a little special, but there really wasn't anyone in his life to lead him or guide him. I hope everything works out for him in the future, but the next time that he says hi to us, I'm going to ask where he lives so we can try and teach him and maybe his family too.

Other than that though, there really isn't that much new. The photos are of me and the gecko, my old companion, and my new companion. I hope everyone has a good week though and until next time!

Love,
Elder McCollum