So, this past week, I said goodbye to my
first mini, Elder Rocha, and got a new mini, Elder Andrade, just for one
week, until the end of the transfer. Now, I had been spending a fair
amount of time last transfer feeling sorry for myself for having a mini,
Elder Rocha, and thinking my life was so hard. I only realized how good
of a mini he was after he left, and I had a new one.
One
day I found myself singing the above mentioned Chili Peppers' song, and
the words rung strangely true for how I felt with my new mini,
'Some days I feel like I don't have a partner, some days I feel like my only friend'
Now,
that may sound depressing, but I say it in a humorous way. Having
adjusted to how mini's work, I had thought, getting my new mini, things
would be easier, that I would know how to teach him better and such, but
it turns out it was VERY opposite. I'm not entirely sure when I
realized he was a bit of a 'block' (as I soon termed it), but he knew
very very little as to what we actually teach, and how to teach. Now, I
understand that, being a missionary for 8 months, I was far more used to
it than he was, but even as I taught him how to do simple things, such
as telling the Joseph Smith story, or teaching what the Book of Mormon
is, or even HOW to teach with a scripture, but just about every time I
did so, he was like, 'yeah, I don't understand', or, would do a great
job in companion study practices, but once we taught, it jsut all went
away. This week, there were legit MANY lessons I taught 100% on my own,
while when I was with Elder Rocha, he would often teach a large chunk of
the 1st Lesson. It was kinda a funny strugle this week, and thankfully,
I was able to laugh about it more than get frustrated about it.
This email might end up just being a long rant, so I ask for your patience, as I continue with my rant.
There were a few classic, defining crappy moments from this week that were just too classic too not share, it was pretty great.
First
day with my companion, we went out teaching, and found a new
investigator to whom we taught the First Lesson. Knowing my companions
likely hesitance (or probable incompetence) I taught a majority of the
lesson, including the First Vision of Joseph Smith, at which point I
passed the time over to my companion, clearly to teach about
the Book of
Mormon. The first things he said to the investigator was, 'yeah, so why
is God important to you?' (which is not a bad question, but when we've
already asked the exact same question early, is not necessary to return
to) and proceeded to teach a VERY mellow and not-at-all accurate version
of the First Lesson in about 2 or 4 minutes, saying miscellaneous things
here and there, and NOTHING about the Book of Mormon. Seeing the
situation, I quickly found an opportunity, and brought it back to what
we WERE teaching, and proceeded to finish off the lesson on my own. That
day, I didn't pass the time over to my comp to teach again :P call that
mean, but I didn't wanna risk him saying something that we don't
actually believe in, such as 'the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph
Smith' (direct quote from a practice that was done).
Also,
had a moment one night where he called the Zone Leaders (on his
personal phone) and told them he wanted to go home, but wouldn't tell
them why he wanted to go home. The ZLs were like, 'come on man, what's
going on?' and he's like 'I won't say' and they kept going asking, and
finally he was like 'yeah, I'm passing through hunger'. NOW, I desire it
to be known, that my house always has food sufficient for any needs. I
always have ramen, spaghetti, potatoes, popcorn, cookies, basically any
random Cape Verdean need, but somehow my comp was living hungry? It was a
crap excuse for wanting to go home. The ZLs told him to suck it up and
make til Monday. It was definitely legendary.
I
would talk about more stuff, but I've gotta get running here. The news
for this week, is that I don't have to put up with minis any longer, as I
will be TRAINING :D I get a new missionary from AMERICA, and for that, I
get to go to Praia this Friday to pick him up. You could say I'm moving
up in the world :)
Love y'all!
Elder Massey
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