Dear Family,
So, here comes a photo of my Companion. His name is Elder
F. Full- Brazilian from São Paulo. He only has 5 more weeks on the
mission but I don't think the thought of home has crossed his mind. He has asked
president to stay longer but president wont let him. I don't want to say that he
is a bad guy but this transfer is going to be harder for me. Not even that
there is a huge language barrier between us, it is just so hard to understand
his personality and just make him happy. So, I wrote that I am not a greenie
anymore. I still feel greenie but he literally wont let me. I am leading all of
the lessons now which is really weird and doing almost all the contacts. He is
just not a talker like Elder M. and just gives me a look that I know I
need to talk. I am surprised because I would expect really old missionaries to
want to do everything in the way they have found to be the most effective. But,
he lets me talk all that I want and when I leave him time he only says just a
little. I can say for sure that my Portuguese is improving much faster
though.
I was really having a rough time getting used to him this
week. I think that he has had lots of really rude companions that just kinda
bullied him. He is really a small guy and doesn't have an overpowering
personality. We finally resolved a big problem the other day. When he corrects
me his voice changes and I feel like he is really mad, he was correcting me
from using ´i´ instead of ´we´. I was really feeling kinda down because I felt
like i could not make him happy and I didn't want to teach with these feelings
going around. But, he told me that his voice just does that and that he was
not mad. so, I resolved to stop saying i and he is going to be more patient
with me. I just hope we don't have any more rough arguments on the street.
We kinda had to start from scratch this week with
investigators. Not very many passed over from the last transfer. We spent hours
on the streets knocking doors and I am probably a new shade of brown. I have
started learning the importance of marking appointments with all of you
potentials instead of just waiting for the telephone. Good thing it only took a
week to correct this. We have lots of marked appointments for next week. I also
was forgetting to confirm lunch and we missed a couple this week. But we still
ate. But man, I am really feeling like Senior Companion. Maybe he will start to
take over as the weeks pass but i dont really know. The Zone Leaders in my
house like to tell me that president is preparing me to be senior for real next
transfer but I don't exactly want all of the responsibilities for real. If
things go really wrong I can still look to my companion for protection. Plus,
no way do I want to do a baptismal interview quite yet.
I have really adapted my contacts to include evaluating the
persons potential this week. We ask about church, about family, religious
history and even drop the baptismal commitment every once in a while. Thats how
you find if someone is really interested. Tons of people will accept a visit
but not as many will really progress. The baptism question is a pretty good way
to tell the difference.
Well, I have lots of pictures. I hope you enjoy them
all.
Love,
Elder Jacobson (Andrew)
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