hey. dang. lots and lots....and lots of stuff to report.
scripture: D&C 63: 57 - 60
so the start of the transfer was odd. ferreira and cavalcanti had
their blow-up. but things were going alright. then we had our weekly
planning on friday. and that just wasn´t good. during planning i was
doing everything alone and i told ferreira that it wasn´t just my
responsibility and that he needed to pay attention and help and then
when i looked up again he was just sitting there messing around with
some stuff on his desk that had nothing to do with our planning. so i
lost my patience. i grabbed the honking cow (it is about 5 inches
long) and threw it on his desk to get his attention and he started
crying and whining and told me that he wouldn´t continue because he
couldn´t feel the spirit.
so i took a few deep breaths and then apologized and asked if we could
do our comp inventory in the other room to not distract the other
elders. so he started whining again and saying that he wouldn´t leave
and that he wouldn´t do comp inventory with me. so after more deep,
deep breaths i told him that we would be doing the inventory in the
other room and i wasn´t asking or inviting. so then when we go to the
other room he called president tavares. he started telling president
that i was very rude and that i offended him and that i was calling
him names (he said that i called him "black" and a "robber" which
isn´t true at all). he said i was trying to force him physically
because of my size. so i talked with president and explained that i
lost my patience during weekly planning and that was my fault and the
other stuff that was going on. but then we had a conference call with
all of us and when i said that i never called ferreira any names and i
never threatened him physically, president asked ferreira why he had
said that and ferreira didn´t have an answer. i just explained what
actually happened and the mistakes on both sides.
then, ferreira just said, "I won´t work in Cascavel anymore." So
president started explaining that on the mission, we don´t handle
situations in this way. then ferreira said, "President, you will
either transfer me or give me a new comp or else i won´t work in
cascavel." And then President just started the burning. He basically
said, "I am the President of this mission, and I act under direct
revelation from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I don´t act or
make decisions based on the complaints of a missionary who is trying
to avoid his responsibilities and duties. I will not change everything
in the transfer that just occurred through revelation just for one
missionary´s desire to run away from his problems." so then he asked
me what i had done as senior to try and fix the problem and i
explained that i tried to do the comp inventory but ferreira didn´t
listen to me. so then i asked president what we could do about our
appointments that day because we had some very important ones. and
pres asked if ferreira had some idea or suggestion and he just kept
complaining. so pres was like, "i am not asking for your complaints, i
want an idea of what you can do to teach these people." and ferreira
just retorted, "i won´t work in cascavel." so president just said,
"okay, then. wait for a couple minutes while i get a hold of your
stake president." this is the third time that ferreira has caused
problems with comps. so after a long conversation, president called
back and we said prayers together. then president just said for me to
keep working and trying to do everything i could to help prepare our
investigators for baptism and that he would call that night. so we
taught a few lessons and then president called me and explained that
my comp would be traveling on monday (today). so ferreira is
currently on a bus on his way to Londrina with his bags. signs point
to one thing: he is giving up. i don´t know why this kid is the way he
is. i talked a lot with him about the importance of enduring and he
just didn´t care.
so now i am with elder fellows and ferreira and cavalcanti are
traveling to londrina. i guess some prayers were answered in one way
or another. i really feel bad about everything that happened. i mean i
know it isn´t my fault, but i don´t feel good about it. talk about an
interesting first week. but that isn´t all!
yesterday, we had a double baptism in our ward! we had João Victor´s
baptism and the other elders had Cristian´s baptism. that was awesome.
João´s family went and he was super excited and all kinds of stuff. i
was the one who performed the baptism and that was cool. some people
didn´t show up who said they would, but it was an awesome meeting.
we also found an amazing family. their names are Raulino and Elaine.
they are amazing. they live across the street from our ward mission
leader. i made a contact with her in front of the house one day and
then we finally went back and it was an awesome lesson. they went to
church yesterday and they loved it. so now we are working with them
and with a large group of others. we are working with Johny and Moira,
as well. they are great. we talked a little about the gospel of Jesus
Christ with them and when we got to baptism, i asked what it would be
that would hold them back from being baptized and they recognized the
need for marriage. i told them we want to help them with any
necessity. great lesson.
ummmm what else?? WE GOT OUR RECORD/GOAL! it has been over a year that
our mission hasn´t been able to baptize more than 100 in a month. so
we started January with a fast and fervent prayer to be able to reach
this goal. last night after closing our numbers, we had a mission
conference via cell phones. President was so psyched when he told us
that we acheived our goal!!!! We were able to help 106 children of God
enter into the waters of baptism!!!! our district, cascavel, had the
highest average! we have 3 companionships, but we were able to baptize
with a higher average than any other zone or district. this is the
first time since november of 2009!
morgan...i really am jealous that i can´t meet my nephew. i wanna play
with him. but i don´t want to eat his cheeks - i still don´t
understand why everyone says they want to eat and chew on baby cheeks.
that is just rude.
mom and dad...the whole thing with school is nuts. i might have to
miss that semester. i might have to just start in the spring semester
of 2012. i can´t imagine being prepared for school without 2 seconds
to breathe after finishing the mission.
mom...i know you were praying for me to be patient, but i guess what
happened had to happen. i will probably be receiving a new companion
soon. i don´t know if i should feel guilty or if i did something
wrong?? like, i don´t know if it is my fault that ferreira is like
this or if i could have done something more to help him?
i can´t believe that you cut your finger dad. i mean...if it was
someone who didn´t know how to work with tools, i could understand.
but this is something that should never happen. and then you slammed
it in the door?!?! yikes. i hope it doesn´t damage the golf game. is
the finger feeling better? did you get it stitched up??
that is so cool that you found out about Wade´s girlfriend, suzy! i
hope she can accept the missionaries and that she can have the desire
to follow the spirit. i bet you guys will really enjoy the lessons. i
hope jake can participate as well! how is he doing? tell him to write
me an email! is he still staying strong in the church and such?? i am
way glad to hear that you guys are searching out mission
opportunities. it makes me feel like the blessings from missionary
work are going both ways!
so our ward baptism goal is three? that is good to see that the church
is strong in arizona. our goal in cascavel is to divide the ward
before june. or at least be eligible for division. as you can
imagine, that falls on the missionaries. so we have got the attendance
rate here from 140 - 145 to a fairly constant 165 - 170. our goal
before june? 210. we have a lot of potential here. Isaías received the
priesthood yesterday and started doing family home teaching! so
awesome!
i am glad that you guys are busy at work! me, too! i hope that the
work in the house doesn´t increase too much! don´t do too much demo
work dad :)
alright, well i am gunna head out. i need some advice with respect to
school. i don´t know what i should do. i need to finish my mission and go
home with my group. what is the advice for school? and how will i be
able to worry about registering classes and stuff? because i am
thinking of changing my major from biochemistry. i need to know a game
plan...
i love you guys a ton. thank you for everything you do for me. thanks
for the love and support. i am praying for you guys always. hope you
guys have a tubular week. peace out from brazil! tchau!
elder scott ghormley
scripture: D&C 63: 57 - 60
so the start of the transfer was odd. ferreira and cavalcanti had
their blow-up. but things were going alright. then we had our weekly
planning on friday. and that just wasn´t good. during planning i was
doing everything alone and i told ferreira that it wasn´t just my
responsibility and that he needed to pay attention and help and then
when i looked up again he was just sitting there messing around with
some stuff on his desk that had nothing to do with our planning. so i
lost my patience. i grabbed the honking cow (it is about 5 inches
long) and threw it on his desk to get his attention and he started
crying and whining and told me that he wouldn´t continue because he
couldn´t feel the spirit.
so i took a few deep breaths and then apologized and asked if we could
do our comp inventory in the other room to not distract the other
elders. so he started whining again and saying that he wouldn´t leave
and that he wouldn´t do comp inventory with me. so after more deep,
deep breaths i told him that we would be doing the inventory in the
other room and i wasn´t asking or inviting. so then when we go to the
other room he called president tavares. he started telling president
that i was very rude and that i offended him and that i was calling
him names (he said that i called him "black" and a "robber" which
isn´t true at all). he said i was trying to force him physically
because of my size. so i talked with president and explained that i
lost my patience during weekly planning and that was my fault and the
other stuff that was going on. but then we had a conference call with
all of us and when i said that i never called ferreira any names and i
never threatened him physically, president asked ferreira why he had
said that and ferreira didn´t have an answer. i just explained what
actually happened and the mistakes on both sides.
then, ferreira just said, "I won´t work in Cascavel anymore." So
president started explaining that on the mission, we don´t handle
situations in this way. then ferreira said, "President, you will
either transfer me or give me a new comp or else i won´t work in
cascavel." And then President just started the burning. He basically
said, "I am the President of this mission, and I act under direct
revelation from our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I don´t act or
make decisions based on the complaints of a missionary who is trying
to avoid his responsibilities and duties. I will not change everything
in the transfer that just occurred through revelation just for one
missionary´s desire to run away from his problems." so then he asked
me what i had done as senior to try and fix the problem and i
explained that i tried to do the comp inventory but ferreira didn´t
listen to me. so then i asked president what we could do about our
appointments that day because we had some very important ones. and
pres asked if ferreira had some idea or suggestion and he just kept
complaining. so pres was like, "i am not asking for your complaints, i
want an idea of what you can do to teach these people." and ferreira
just retorted, "i won´t work in cascavel." so president just said,
"okay, then. wait for a couple minutes while i get a hold of your
stake president." this is the third time that ferreira has caused
problems with comps. so after a long conversation, president called
back and we said prayers together. then president just said for me to
keep working and trying to do everything i could to help prepare our
investigators for baptism and that he would call that night. so we
taught a few lessons and then president called me and explained that
my comp would be traveling on monday (today). so ferreira is
currently on a bus on his way to Londrina with his bags. signs point
to one thing: he is giving up. i don´t know why this kid is the way he
is. i talked a lot with him about the importance of enduring and he
just didn´t care.
so now i am with elder fellows and ferreira and cavalcanti are
traveling to londrina. i guess some prayers were answered in one way
or another. i really feel bad about everything that happened. i mean i
know it isn´t my fault, but i don´t feel good about it. talk about an
interesting first week. but that isn´t all!
yesterday, we had a double baptism in our ward! we had João Victor´s
baptism and the other elders had Cristian´s baptism. that was awesome.
João´s family went and he was super excited and all kinds of stuff. i
was the one who performed the baptism and that was cool. some people
didn´t show up who said they would, but it was an awesome meeting.
we also found an amazing family. their names are Raulino and Elaine.
they are amazing. they live across the street from our ward mission
leader. i made a contact with her in front of the house one day and
then we finally went back and it was an awesome lesson. they went to
church yesterday and they loved it. so now we are working with them
and with a large group of others. we are working with Johny and Moira,
as well. they are great. we talked a little about the gospel of Jesus
Christ with them and when we got to baptism, i asked what it would be
that would hold them back from being baptized and they recognized the
need for marriage. i told them we want to help them with any
necessity. great lesson.
ummmm what else?? WE GOT OUR RECORD/GOAL! it has been over a year that
our mission hasn´t been able to baptize more than 100 in a month. so
we started January with a fast and fervent prayer to be able to reach
this goal. last night after closing our numbers, we had a mission
conference via cell phones. President was so psyched when he told us
that we acheived our goal!!!! We were able to help 106 children of God
enter into the waters of baptism!!!! our district, cascavel, had the
highest average! we have 3 companionships, but we were able to baptize
with a higher average than any other zone or district. this is the
first time since november of 2009!
morgan...i really am jealous that i can´t meet my nephew. i wanna play
with him. but i don´t want to eat his cheeks - i still don´t
understand why everyone says they want to eat and chew on baby cheeks.
that is just rude.
mom and dad...the whole thing with school is nuts. i might have to
miss that semester. i might have to just start in the spring semester
of 2012. i can´t imagine being prepared for school without 2 seconds
to breathe after finishing the mission.
mom...i know you were praying for me to be patient, but i guess what
happened had to happen. i will probably be receiving a new companion
soon. i don´t know if i should feel guilty or if i did something
wrong?? like, i don´t know if it is my fault that ferreira is like
this or if i could have done something more to help him?
i can´t believe that you cut your finger dad. i mean...if it was
someone who didn´t know how to work with tools, i could understand.
but this is something that should never happen. and then you slammed
it in the door?!?! yikes. i hope it doesn´t damage the golf game. is
the finger feeling better? did you get it stitched up??
that is so cool that you found out about Wade´s girlfriend, suzy! i
hope she can accept the missionaries and that she can have the desire
to follow the spirit. i bet you guys will really enjoy the lessons. i
hope jake can participate as well! how is he doing? tell him to write
me an email! is he still staying strong in the church and such?? i am
way glad to hear that you guys are searching out mission
opportunities. it makes me feel like the blessings from missionary
work are going both ways!
so our ward baptism goal is three? that is good to see that the church
is strong in arizona. our goal in cascavel is to divide the ward
before june. or at least be eligible for division. as you can
imagine, that falls on the missionaries. so we have got the attendance
rate here from 140 - 145 to a fairly constant 165 - 170. our goal
before june? 210. we have a lot of potential here. Isaías received the
priesthood yesterday and started doing family home teaching! so
awesome!
i am glad that you guys are busy at work! me, too! i hope that the
work in the house doesn´t increase too much! don´t do too much demo
work dad :)
alright, well i am gunna head out. i need some advice with respect to
school. i don´t know what i should do. i need to finish my mission and go
home with my group. what is the advice for school? and how will i be
able to worry about registering classes and stuff? because i am
thinking of changing my major from biochemistry. i need to know a game
plan...
i love you guys a ton. thank you for everything you do for me. thanks
for the love and support. i am praying for you guys always. hope you
guys have a tubular week. peace out from brazil! tchau!
elder scott ghormley
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