Mar 3, 2014 Challenges

3-3-14

New laptop! That's cool! I think I've seen windows 8 before, it's interesting

Yiche Jacqueline is graduating and is number 8 and got a 34 on the ACT??? Wow I got a smart cousin. Of course she got into BYU haha Tell her congrats for me! And tell her that she'll find young men who are a lot better than her old boyfriend at BYU and so not to lose hope.

How much did you guys sell the van for?

How was your week?

My week was goodish. The weekend was a bit tense. The president had called Elder Cosme and talked about some things including that he wanted Elder Cosme and I to stick together this transfer as well...I wasn't terribly happy when I heard that. I was looking forward to a new companion. And he had done some things to make me feel less happy that day already and so I decided I'd call the Assistants and ask them to relay to the president that I personally didn't feel a lot of desire to stay another transfer with Elder Cosme. The Assistants called back later and told me to call Pres when I have some time. I called him and we talked for about 40 minutes. I would've ended the conversation sooner but he likes to talk. We talked about a couple of things. Including the shirts that Elder Cosme was making shirts for his group and the president didn't like that and said for me to tell Elder Cosme that if he sees any shirts at transfers (when they were planning on distributing the shirts) that Elder Cosme would be going home. He also said that he'd call Elder Miranda that was supposed to get the shirts last Friday or Saturday. We hung up, I told Elder Cosme, he got angry like I knew he would and started to be infantile and I explained to him the doctrine of the matter, that Elder Evans said that we don't divide in other groups. Period. We have districts and zones but more than this there shouldn't exist other groups. I told him that he has to respect the president and the general authorities and their directions but he just continued being angry. Later as we were walking on the streets, he was talking with Elder Miranda. The president had already talked with Elder Miranda and the shirts were already cancelled and Elder Miranda said to Cosme to tell me not to shake his hand or look him in the face and that to him, I was basically forgotten in the mission. I didn't exist to him. I thought that was a poor attitude so I decided to inform the president about that and as I was calling the president, Elder Cosme said "You can't talk English" And I said "Why not?" He said I'd just lie or stuff like that and he wouldn't understand and I said "I can talk English if I want to" and he said "No, you can't" And then he grabbed my backpack and said "If you talk English we're going to fight right here on the street" The president answered the phone. The first thing I said "President, Elder Cosme said that if I talk English, he's going to fight with me" in Portuguese. He said to put Elder Cosme on the phone. I did so and he burned him and talked about the shirts a bit and how it's not good. And Elder Cosme fought with the president on the phone trying to convince him that the shirts aren't bad that it's just a group of friends, always talking with disrespect. After talking, he handed the phone back to me and I talked in English with the president and told him about what Elder Miranda said and he was pretty surprised and said he'd talk with Elder Miranda about it. We talked a bit more and then he hung up. This whole time we were walking and when I hung up, I was curious where we were going, I thought we were going in the wrong direction so I tried to ask Elder Cosme where we were going, he just ignored me. I asked 3 or 4 times with lots of pause and always ignored me. It's something he does that I've always hated and thought was very childish but whatever. Anyways I thought maybe he was just walking in the wrong direction to not work or something so I stood in front of him and stopped him and finally he said where he was going and it was different than what we had planned but it was a valid answer and so we continued walking, he said if I touched him again he'd hit me. This wasn't very right of me but I decided to provoke him. I laid my hand on his shoulder and he hit my arm with the force he could muster. I put my other hand on his shoulder and he grabbed it with his force again, scratching it in the process. I think maybe I was looking for a good reason to punch him, I don't know exactly but it wasn't exactly the best reaction on my part but at the same time I think it was necessary to a point to make him realize that things weren't right with our relationship. I'll explain more about this later. The good news is that I don't feel pain anymore since I rowed and so it didn't hurt. Left a mark though for a couple hours. The rest of the day went surprisingly without conflict between us two as we visited members and investigators, we even joked around a bit which I was surprised about. But at night when we got in house, we both sat on our bed tired and he started off saying "I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know" And then he explained what he was thinking. He said a lot of things like that he fights a lot with the president and that from that moment on, he would respect the president more and not give him trouble. He also quoted a part of a scripture saying that contention is of the devil and that when we have contention we don't have the spirit and when we don't have the spirit, we can't teach with the spirit. He said that sometimes he thinks he's at home and forgets that he's on a mission and that the mission has rules and different things and that he has to act differently. He said a couple other things that I really liked and I was thinking "...is a miracle happening?" The last thing he did was say he was sorry and asked forgiveness for hitting me while extending his hand to shake mine. I took his hand and pulled him to his feet and gave him a hug and told him that I forgave him and that I was excited to work with him this transfer and that we'd baptize awesome families this transfer. I went to bed happy that night.

The next day, Saturday, and Sunday I came to the conclusion that he really didn't change that much, much to my dismay. And sooooo yeah. That was this week! It was eventful and passed quickly. I don't know what will happen this transfer but probably we'll stick together for another month and a half. President said when I was talking with him on Friday that if it gets unbearable that I can call him and we do an emergency transfer. I said "thank you" and that I'd let him know.

What do you know about transfers?

Probably together still but maybe one will get transferred

What makes you happy?

Excel, happy music, lack of conflict, Americans, having the spirit, nutella, p-day, happy news from my friends and family, other righteous elders, the future, A/C, food, Well organized planner, good lessons, baptisms, personal study, learning other languages.

What is your favorite memory with each of your siblings?

Favorite? hard to decide, some good ones that I remember

James - trampoline bouncing, "lawnmower lawnmower!" "No Garrett, none-knower" "Yeah i know, Lawnmower lawnmower!" pizza at BYU when he was recruiting

AnnMarie - Lil brudda, bula bula bula, dress up, 

Jonathon - When he came home from his mission and hugged me and said he loved me. Riding his motorized skateboard. Potato cannon, rowing

Liz - Cute baby nieces and nephews. Sliding across the street in the snow "Ahhhhh" - Liz "Wheeeeeee!"-Everyone else

Andrew - Sleeping with dad before being married with Rie.

Shelem - Tucano's yum. Park City.

Did you eat or experience anything new or unusual this week?

I don't think so..

How are your spreadsheets coming along?

Great! Growing every day! Every p-day that is

Where are you at in your journal transcribing?

10/12/13, I didn't do it last week.

Also, wanted to note an interesting fact of which I'm proud, our area did the best in the month of February with 3/1 baptisms meaning 3 people were baptized and one of them was a man.