Wellllllll. Today has been super eventful. Over the past couple days I received a strong feeling of finality. I had a feeling that I was going to be transferred out. I said goodbye to one of the families I've been super close to since I got here, and it was pretty sad. It's a single mom and her sons- I've sent a picture of them before. The youngest is preparing for baptism, and is pretty hyperactive. I took him under my wing and did my best to teach him. Apparently I have had a greater impact than I could ever have thought. His mom was crying when I told her that I would probably be leaving. She thanked me and said that Chris had grown so much from my teaching him, and that few missionaries had left an impact on their family like I had. Everyone was crying when we left... except me. I was smiling from ear to ear, because we had been super discouraged with that family. They haven't been coming to church like they should, and we don't feel good about baptizing Chris until they do. But last night I left with a smile and a warm, happy feeling, because the Lord has worked miracles through me, and I can see the fruits of my labors. I am happy with my work here.
Anyway, Elder Pavon had been getting the same feeling, so we were worried that we might be blinded out. Fortunately, only I will be leaving my first area, and will find out where I'm bound tomorrow! I'm excited. A change of scenery will do me some good. I've been getting pretty dang frustrated with some things that have been happening in the area lately.
So, story time :) ...... We were having our district meeting on Tuesday, but it was the last one in the transfer, so we decided to have brunch together. After we ate, it started to rain super hard. Like, super hard. We went out to see it (our church has two sides, divided by a little urban courtyard back alley thing with a glass panel roof), and accidentally got locked outside. That may have been my bad. The sisters decide to run through the rain around the building, and we thought they would open the door for us, but they gave us some sass and didn't. Then, right as they were about to go back inside, a waterfall in every sense of the word started to cascade down in from of the alcove with the double doors leading to the classroom.
You see, the glass roof had been replaced recently, and the Jewish (no offense, but they do have a well-earned reputation for miserably underfunding building repair and maintenance) administrator didn't pay to install a gutter. The courtyard is two stories, with some offices above our classrooms. The water cascaded down the windows. It was super cool. The only problem was that the water started pooling very very quickly, and started flooding towards our chapel and our classrooms. The sisters ran through the waterfall and came back with a mop and a broom, soaked to the bone. It was pretty darn funny. We have a video of it. In the rather frantic efforts to remove the pools of water from our building that followed, I ended up scooping up water with a dustpan and throwing it back into the courtyard. The only problem with that is that the ground is tile, and somewhat broken tile. I was pushing the dustpan super hard, and it got caught on one of these outcroppings, ripping off the first layer of my skin just under the first knuckle of my right hand. It bled a fair bit, actually, and stung pretty bad. I'll be sure to include pictures to get some extra sympathy ;) That, and I think that being wet lowered my body's ability to fight off sickness, because for most of last week I was sick with a sore throat, super congested nose and sinuses, a racking cough, and fatigue. It's been a rough week in that respect, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. The battle-wound just needs a day or so, and it'll be completely covered again, and I won't need to wear a band aid all the time. I personally really hope it scars, but that's just me.
I have not gotten your packages yet (I think). The Mission office gets them, and then it's up to us and our district and zone leaders to come and pick them up, although if you mark them specially they'll call us. For example, if it has something that needs to be refrigerated, they'll call us and tell us we have a package. I did get a package from the Mogles, though, with a pack of sour watermelon sharks. Tell them thanks for me! I also got a letter from the Accordinos, which I am super grateful for. I'll try to get a reply out by next week or so. I'll check to see if I got the packages when I go to Rego tomorrow.
Yux. Paratu. Papoy. (funny thing, 'para tu' means 'for you,' in the familiar form)
The missionary lemonade stand Mom mentioned seeing in Utah is something we do quite a lot, actually. We get the whole district together for something called a street sweep. We whip up a cooler of lemonade, and take a table, and lay out pamphlets, Books of Mormon, English Class cards, and pass-along cards, and spend a couple hours just street contacting. It's actually been pretty successful. When it's not too cold we do the same thing in the winter, but with hot chocolate. It made me super happy to see that picture, though :)
Well, I gotta get packing! I'll fill you all in next week!
Love,
Elder Richard Brandt Hull 헐
PS: Tell Spencer I say 'Hey.'
Anyway, Elder Pavon had been getting the same feeling, so we were worried that we might be blinded out. Fortunately, only I will be leaving my first area, and will find out where I'm bound tomorrow! I'm excited. A change of scenery will do me some good. I've been getting pretty dang frustrated with some things that have been happening in the area lately.
So, story time :) ...... We were having our district meeting on Tuesday, but it was the last one in the transfer, so we decided to have brunch together. After we ate, it started to rain super hard. Like, super hard. We went out to see it (our church has two sides, divided by a little urban courtyard back alley thing with a glass panel roof), and accidentally got locked outside. That may have been my bad. The sisters decide to run through the rain around the building, and we thought they would open the door for us, but they gave us some sass and didn't. Then, right as they were about to go back inside, a waterfall in every sense of the word started to cascade down in from of the alcove with the double doors leading to the classroom.
You see, the glass roof had been replaced recently, and the Jewish (no offense, but they do have a well-earned reputation for miserably underfunding building repair and maintenance) administrator didn't pay to install a gutter. The courtyard is two stories, with some offices above our classrooms. The water cascaded down the windows. It was super cool. The only problem was that the water started pooling very very quickly, and started flooding towards our chapel and our classrooms. The sisters ran through the waterfall and came back with a mop and a broom, soaked to the bone. It was pretty darn funny. We have a video of it. In the rather frantic efforts to remove the pools of water from our building that followed, I ended up scooping up water with a dustpan and throwing it back into the courtyard. The only problem with that is that the ground is tile, and somewhat broken tile. I was pushing the dustpan super hard, and it got caught on one of these outcroppings, ripping off the first layer of my skin just under the first knuckle of my right hand. It bled a fair bit, actually, and stung pretty bad. I'll be sure to include pictures to get some extra sympathy ;) That, and I think that being wet lowered my body's ability to fight off sickness, because for most of last week I was sick with a sore throat, super congested nose and sinuses, a racking cough, and fatigue. It's been a rough week in that respect, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. The battle-wound just needs a day or so, and it'll be completely covered again, and I won't need to wear a band aid all the time. I personally really hope it scars, but that's just me.
I have not gotten your packages yet (I think). The Mission office gets them, and then it's up to us and our district and zone leaders to come and pick them up, although if you mark them specially they'll call us. For example, if it has something that needs to be refrigerated, they'll call us and tell us we have a package. I did get a package from the Mogles, though, with a pack of sour watermelon sharks. Tell them thanks for me! I also got a letter from the Accordinos, which I am super grateful for. I'll try to get a reply out by next week or so. I'll check to see if I got the packages when I go to Rego tomorrow.
Yux. Paratu. Papoy. (funny thing, 'para tu' means 'for you,' in the familiar form)
The missionary lemonade stand Mom mentioned seeing in Utah is something we do quite a lot, actually. We get the whole district together for something called a street sweep. We whip up a cooler of lemonade, and take a table, and lay out pamphlets, Books of Mormon, English Class cards, and pass-along cards, and spend a couple hours just street contacting. It's actually been pretty successful. When it's not too cold we do the same thing in the winter, but with hot chocolate. It made me super happy to see that picture, though :)
Well, I gotta get packing! I'll fill you all in next week!
Love,
Elder Richard Brandt Hull 헐
PS: Tell Spencer I say 'Hey.'