Here are these weeks events. Monday I bought 60 eggs. Hna Callan said that's the best way to gain weight back because it´s cheap. Unfortunately after hard boiling 15 of them I put them in the fridge and 9 of them turned to ice. Strange because being hard boiled that shouldn´t have happened. Anyways we taught a guy who was drunk last week and his wife a nurse. They were really good (Being Sober) and we gave them a baptismal date. Because of the lesson we came late for Noche de Hogar, so the family was tired and boring. We ended up in a better mood towards the end, but everyone was tired when we started. I ate almost 20 empenadas by myself and then my birthday cake you sent me.
It was yummy, but especially the frosting. They have cake mix here, but nobody knows how to make frosting. You should send me brownie and brownie frosting recipe and cake frosting recipe because Hna Presentacion´s daughter always makes cakes. Elder Richards and Elder Yaringño came over at 11. Elder Richards was hungry so he ate some food and we all talked until 2 am. I say it´s justifiable because he´s going home. He´s probably still sleeping in his bed asleep as we speak.
So because Elder Richards was really nervous about leaving he got up at 6 and made us an omelet of 4 eggs each. Good thing I bought those 60 eggs yesterday. I got up at 6:30 and talked to him about all his worries and stuff. Elder Yaringaño and Elder Gillette stayed asleep until 8. When they woke up it took forever for everybody to get ready especially because they were all messing around, so we had a really short District Farewell Meeting. Afterwards we ate lunch at Hna P´s and he said goodbye to everybody. Afterwards we basically just spent the day doing last minute things for Elder Richards.
At 5 he went to visit his convert who moved here. The only ones who cried were Mirta (the convert) and Elder Gillette. Elder Richards and Yaringaño were sad, but they didn´t cry. Afterwards we helped him get all his bags to the road to catch a bus. Then he was gone. Now I´m the new District Leader and I now I don´t have a friend on my mission anymore. There have been a lot of cool Elders that I have met, but Elder T Rich is the only person, besides my MTC group, that I would hang out with after the mission.
Wednesday sucked because my comp was (and is still) super depressed that Elder Richards is gone. He gets really attached and so it´s hard to let go. Probably because his dad died at 15. He is super empathetic with people because of that too. It´s a good attribute, something I definitely don´t have. We did service for Hna P and ate lunch, but Elder Gillette needed some sleep time, so I was sympathetic. We still taught 2 lessons. We even gave someone Fetcha, but we later found out that he might already be a member.
The next day we did Plan Guasu and then I treated my comp to Pizza Boom to try and make him feel better. We had to take the Mail to the Mailing office, so we were by it anyways, but when we got home he needed to rest again. We officially found out that Julio the guy we gave fetcha to is a member. Silver Lining is that his brother and dad are definitely not members, so he can help us teach them. My companion was upset that he was a member because he seemed like the golden investigator.
Friday was fun because I did exchanges to do Baptismal interviews for Natalio. It´s only my second time going there. We got there around 11am and my comp went with the Elder Yaringaño´s new comp Elder Reyes to get some food and go back to our area. I went with Elder Yaringaño to drop off my stuff at their house and then we went to a Member´s house to get lunch. Even though Natalio 10 is still a Rama they have a Capilla and it´s because the members actually help out. The old couple we ate lunch with are awesome. They always help the Elders teach lessons and they give them references all the time. The Old man is the Elders Quorum President.
After lunch I watched Elder Yaringaño clean the baptismal font and then it was time for the interview. The interview was kinda awkward cuz I wasn´t sure what to do. I shared Mosiah 18 and then talked about what a covenant is and after that I straight up just read the questions. I had to explain the meaning of a couple things, but she passed. We taught some lessons and it started to rain and it Lightninged like crazy. Every 10 seconds the sky lit up, which was good cuz it was dark and we didn´t have a flashlight.
We taught a lesson with the Elders Quorum President at his house. He sure does like to talk a lot. It was good that he was involved, but it was bad because he used fancy words without explaining them like Apostasy and Melchezidek Priesthood. He was talking in Guarani the whole time to, so I have no idea what kind of other stuff he was telling the investigator. We made our way over to the second interview in the rain. We picked up an investigator on the way there so Elder Yaringaño could teach her and we could kill two birds with one stone.
For the second interview I had a plan, but these plans were foiled by the fact that she doesn´t speak Spanish. She understands basic Spanish, but she can hardly speak. According to what the translator said she was saying she knows a lot about the Gospel though. She passed. Then I came out during the second half of the lesson to the investigator. By that time there was only an hour left till 9pm so we visited another investigator.
This part was really interesting. His name is Julio, his wife´s name in Antonia, but he named his kid... Washington Kennedy. This guy is obsessed with the United States and he is really wierd. He is basically a Costa Rican version of Hollywood from the Mannequin. Seriously he acts and look the same. He even has the same job. He is an interior designer for rich people, so he makes bank. Everything in his house has something to do with the United States on it. He even has a Giant US flag outside. He knows more about the economy and polotics than I do. The funniest thing is his wife is normal, so How does she put up with him?
Anyways after watching Baseball, Womens Boxing, BMX, The US stock market, etc. (All on PayPerView) while eating hot dogs and Orange flavored milk, we went home. It was a very hilarious experience.
Saturday we finished the changes. We left Natalio at 7am got to Obligado at 8:30am. We met up with our companions and the other Elders pulled out money and left at 9. Just like breaking necks it was quick and painless. Unlike all the other exchanges I´ve done with Natalio where we waste tons of time and get very little accomplished. Unfortunately my amazing efforts be not be a Macanero were destroyed because of lunch. We made our own lunch at 12, but Elder Gillette forgot that Hna P invited us for lunch. So after she called us and asked were we were, we went to her house and ate there too. Elder Gillette didn´t feel well so he rested at her house while I talked with Hna P.
Since it was Dia de la Amistad we had a party at the capilla at 3. Basically we didn´t get there until 4 because of messing around/ resting. Only the people who normally come to church on sunday came to the party, which is suprising, cuz when there is free food everybody usually comes. We invited a lot of people too, but I guess it was too "cold". After eating chorizo my comp needed to rest again. He still feels bad about Elder Richards leaving and talks about him all the time and thinks about what he is doing at home right now. Lately he has been taking my music player and sits in our room listening to music. I try to be productive. I got my District Leader Shades that I ordered. I wear them whenever I´m in District Leader mode. (Trying to be positive about my new assignment)
Basically because it was sprinkling out side with rain only 14 people came. We even went out during sunday school and looked for people. They all promised they would come if it stopped raining. Well, guess what. As soon as we got back to the capilla it stopped raining and it didn´t rain for the rest of the day, but still nobody showed up. Liars. I made them promise and they still lied. Anyways at lunch we wasted a long time because Elder Gillette had to wait 2 hours for a pie to get done. I suggested we come back at night and eat it then, but it was "almost done".
After lunch we went home at 4 and he went to bed. It was an "Accident". I would have woken him up, but I was listening to Motab and I fell asleep sitting up in my chair. Now that´s an Accident. Anyways I woke up at 6 because my battery died and we left and were blessed with two good lessons. Afterwards we went home and I took then passed numbers as district leader for the first time. I gave Elder Gillette a "Grace/Sympathy" period to mourn over the loss of Elder Richards, but times up.
Love ya,
Elder Zachary James Singson
