Sometimes you can't go home; sometimes you're already there

July 11, 2011

Bom dia everyone, como vocês estão?

We had a zone leader council on Tuesday, where my mission president instituted a new standard of excellence (padrão de excelência) in our mission. We used to have to do 160 street contacts a week and get at least 40 addresses from those contacts. And then President made it more specific, where we had to do 160 contacts, with 50 of them being with men, and 60 of them being done knocking doors. And now the new pattern (that's what we call the standard of excellence) doesn't include contacts or addresses. I know this probably doesn't mean much to any of you, but it's actually a pretty huge change in the mission. Now the focus is on finding new families each week that have either accepted an invitation to be baptized or have gone to church; the mission doesn't really care how you find these people, just so long as you find them. I almost wish they had made this change sooner, because it seems pretty awesome.

At the council, I also received my carta trunky (trunky letter), which is what the mission gives you when you're in your last transfer. It has your flight itinerary (!), the schedule for your final interview with President (!), and some other papers about serving faithfully and stuff. Anyway, I forgot to bring my itinerary to the LAN house, so I don't have everything laid out in front of me, but I know that I'll be leaving from the international airport in São Paulo at 8:50 PM on Tuesday, July 26th. From there, I go to Atlanta, where I thiiiiink I should descend at about 6 AM. From there, I go to Salt Lake, and from there to Burbank. I know that I land in Burbank at either 12:13 or 12:31, so I'll get there just in time for us to get some In-N-Out for lunch! But yeah, I will land in Burbank a little after noon on Wednesday, July 27th. And that's that.

This week was pretty normal. We tried desperately to find some new investigators in between the interviews and divisions, but that didn't work out. We helped the stake president move, which was a fun time. There's a girl in the ward who had her mission farewell-but-don't-call-it-a-farewell yesterday, which was a cool reminder of what it was like to leave for the mission -- I feel like I was so naive about things back then. There's a guy from the ward who will be leaving for his mission next week, so we'll have another farewell-but-not-a-farewell, and then it will be my last Sunday here. SO. WEIRD. We're going to sing "Deus Vos Guarde" ("God Be With You Till We Meet Again") each time, I think.

The coolest thing this week was that an inactive older couple named Nelson and Sueli went to church yesterday! We have been visiting them for the past few weeks and trying to get them to come back, but it wasn't working out. They used to be really strong in the Church -- they were even sealed in the temple -- but then they fell away because of a few arguments and misunderstandings. They hadn't been to church for about two years; in fact, Sueli had actually started frequenting the Catholic church nearby, and didn't really want anything to do with the Church. But we kept going by there and really working with Nelson, whose heart was a little softer, and they ended up going to church yesterday! They even showed up early! It was so cool to see them there together after so much time away. I just hope they keep it up.

Anyway, things are going well. I am not trunky. I am just in denial. I am pretending that my mission isn't actually almost over so that the shock of it all will smash into me like a tidal wave on my last day in the field. Looking forward to it!

See you one more time next week! I love you! The Church is so true!

luv

elder wiggins