On Sunday, they split the Branch again, so Elder Fuller and I are now the Sr. Zone Leaders, so this week has been crazy with training the new Zone Leaders and taking care of the new district. It's been a lot more intense, because before we gave a 1 hour seminar to the new missionaries about planning, missionary directed time and companionship inventory and giving blessings/counsel when needed and Sunday meetings for about 6 hours. Now we are in charge of the new Zone Leaders and collecting reports from our districts and from the main office here, so it keeps us really busy.
The MTC is full of miracles and on Sunday, I had another one: I am no longer suspicious of Sheri Dew. Yes, I'm not joking. She spoke to us about Abraham 1:2 and being a "greater follower of righteousness". It was great.
At the Teaching Resource Center yesterday, we were teaching someone how to pray in Portuguese and when it was my turn, I started speaking and even though it wasn't anywhere near perfect, I was able to deliver my 5 minute section of the lesson. It was so amazing and I know it was only possible through the grace of God. So I'm full of Thanksgiving this week a little early.
Now, on to the not as serious things here, and I hope you'll enjoy them. Laundry time is really hectic and with over 700 new missionaries this week, it is absolutely crazy! You have to fight for a washer and dryer and two weeks, I ended up holding my wet laundry for about 20 minutes as I waited for a dryer to open up. Sometimes, there are a lot of clothes left in the washers/dryers so we move them to a blank spot or one of the courtesy metal bins. The only problem is, most of the time it's Sister's stuff (which I'm not saying it's only Sisters, please read on and don't be angry with me) and no Elder feels it would be appropriate to touch their stuff....that and they would probably kill you. Don't mess with the Sisters, Hermanas or Imas. And the Sisters in our Zone don't like touching the Elder's things, so I've worked it out with one of the Sisters that she moves the Sister's stuff for me and I move the Elder's stuff for her and her companion. Everyone gets their washer/dryer and no one is killed. It works great. I'll compile my field study of the Sisters next week, so that should be interesting.
Gym time is going really well. I love it and it's so nice to be able to do something physical. I've been rotating between volleyball and jump rope (not like the double dutch stuff, just a single jump rope). So, combined with eating a lot less, I've got a good feeling about the Monday weigh in. I do it every week. But this week, I started playing 4 square. How I didn't know about this game earlier, I don't know, but it's amazing. It's intense psycho-kinetic warfare and really intense. Some of these Elders and Sisters from back East are crazy good. So I'm enjoying that.
That's about it for this week. I'm enjoying the difficulties of Portuguese and I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve. It's hard and I'm so grateful every night to go to sleep, but I've never felt so blessed and I pray that all of you back home, family and friends, are blessed for my service. Please continue to pray for our visas. I'm grateful to be here in Provo, but it's getting really crowded and I'll lose my bed soon so they can fit us in sleeping bags in the gym. I'm just teasing. But more seriously, I can't wait to get to Brasil, and so I'm hoping I get that for Christmas. I love you all, I love this work and I love the people of Brasil or Arkansas (we've decided which state we're going to if our visas don't come).
Love, Elder Barton
2 comments:
That's funny about the laundry. I've never thought about that issue. And losing the bed - wow! I guess that would some of them prepare for areas where that might be a luxury. Thanks for sending keeping this up to date. I enjoy sharing it with the boys.
Oh thank goodness he still has his sense of humor! I couldn't help but laugh during several parts of his letter.
Funny story: At the mailroom packages are only supposed to be picked up by the elder that they're for. But, instead of having someone in his district tell me that he's coming so I can go into the backroom, he's taken to giving his name tag to someone else to make it "legit" so they can grab his package for him. I've met so many different Elder Bartons! It makes me smile, and I'm glad he's turned a potentially awkward situation into a game.
One more side note... does he not know yet that his departure date's been moved up? Should I keep that hush-hush from him?
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