3 Days: The Death And Rebirth Of The District Monkey
Whattup Underlords,
Wednesday July 5, 2023
Easily the worst day of my mission, quite possibly one of the worst days of my life. We had interviews with our new president and a district council which were great, but afterwards we did literally nothing but study and eat in members' houses. We had dinner for like two hours and I'm not gonna mince words with you guys: I was miserable. It was all I could do to just sit there. Luckily, the worst day was compensated at the very end with one of the best prayers of my life which stopped me from breaking completely, but yeah it was a struggle for real.
Thursday July 6, 2023
My dear sister (my actual sister, not like a sister missionary) passed me an idea to have a journal in which I set a goal with God each day, reflecting on the goal at night before I go to bed. This was the day I started, and my goal was literally just "forgive my companion".
Wednesday July 5, 2023
Easily the worst day of my mission, quite possibly one of the worst days of my life. We had interviews with our new president and a district council which were great, but afterwards we did literally nothing but study and eat in members' houses. We had dinner for like two hours and I'm not gonna mince words with you guys: I was miserable. It was all I could do to just sit there. Luckily, the worst day was compensated at the very end with one of the best prayers of my life which stopped me from breaking completely, but yeah it was a struggle for real.
Thursday July 6, 2023
My dear sister (my actual sister, not like a sister missionary) passed me an idea to have a journal in which I set a goal with God each day, reflecting on the goal at night before I go to bed. This was the day I started, and my goal was literally just "forgive my companion".
At 10 o'clock we had a meeting to announce transfers, and we got the news that I would stay and my comp would leave. So, I had an excellent opportunity for literally the entire rest of the day to study charity, forgiveness, and the Atonement because once again my trainer did not do anything but sleep and eat in the houses of members. A pretty crappy day but my uplifting studies and some left over spiritual dew from my prayer the day before kept me from wanting to vanish off the face of the earth again.
But, there was a light at the end of this musty, nasty, horrible tunnel: transfers. I knew I would have a new companion; a former LZ, and our new District Leader. I assumed he would be better, but I firmly resolved myself to do whatever it takes to not have this next transfer suck. I promised myself that I would send this comp home if I had to, rather than continuing compromising the work.
Friday, July 7, 2023
We have transfers early in the morning. I say goodbye, probably for the last time, to my second companion of the Mission and my 'trainer'. Then, I met Elder Arthur Lucas Meideros.
While waiting for the metro to return to our area, Elder Meideros starts to talk to me:
EM: "How's it going? Ready to work "até o pó?" (Literally translates to 'until the dust'. Colloquially basically means 'a ton')
So literally the first thing he said to me that wasn't asking for directions was that we were gonna work our butts off. I responded that I was ready, and he was excited. He then told me he had heard good things about me from our former district leader, and he would give me all the help I need. Our conversation on the metro and bus didn't happen exactly like this, but I'll summarize what he said:
"Elder. Your trainer was a fubeca. You have a good heart, but you don't know how to work. You don't know how to teach. You don't know how to be a missionary, because you never had sufficient access to the spirit to learn. I will teach you. Our District has 60% of the fubecas in this mission. They love themselves and their sins more than they love God. President sent me here because he knows I am Fire. I will burn them until they figure out how to work, or they go home. I'm very hyperactive: if I'm not doing and achieving, I'm dead. So, we're going to work until the dust and baptize three people this month."
That's maybe a little more intense when it's all put together like that, but it's the gist of it. He literally did describe himself as "the fire" and that he would "burn people'' though. It's one of his favorite sayings, actually. My favorite is when he talks about setting our ward on fire with the members during lunch.
Some more fun facts about Elder Medeiros:
-He is from the South of Brazil, which he described as the 'Texas of Brazil' but if it was really cold. So it's basically like Texas fused with Wisconsin, which makes it the best state in Brazil.
-He's descended from the ancient rulers of Madeira, the most beautiful place in the world
-He has three transfers left in his mission so he's probably gonna die here. Every time he talks about how trunky he is, he follows it up with "so let's work until the dust!"
-He refuses to violate the Missionary Standards for anything
-He is obsessed with baptizing
But, there was a light at the end of this musty, nasty, horrible tunnel: transfers. I knew I would have a new companion; a former LZ, and our new District Leader. I assumed he would be better, but I firmly resolved myself to do whatever it takes to not have this next transfer suck. I promised myself that I would send this comp home if I had to, rather than continuing compromising the work.
Friday, July 7, 2023
We have transfers early in the morning. I say goodbye, probably for the last time, to my second companion of the Mission and my 'trainer'. Then, I met Elder Arthur Lucas Meideros.
While waiting for the metro to return to our area, Elder Meideros starts to talk to me:
EM: "How's it going? Ready to work "até o pó?" (Literally translates to 'until the dust'. Colloquially basically means 'a ton')
So literally the first thing he said to me that wasn't asking for directions was that we were gonna work our butts off. I responded that I was ready, and he was excited. He then told me he had heard good things about me from our former district leader, and he would give me all the help I need. Our conversation on the metro and bus didn't happen exactly like this, but I'll summarize what he said:
"Elder. Your trainer was a fubeca. You have a good heart, but you don't know how to work. You don't know how to teach. You don't know how to be a missionary, because you never had sufficient access to the spirit to learn. I will teach you. Our District has 60% of the fubecas in this mission. They love themselves and their sins more than they love God. President sent me here because he knows I am Fire. I will burn them until they figure out how to work, or they go home. I'm very hyperactive: if I'm not doing and achieving, I'm dead. So, we're going to work until the dust and baptize three people this month."
That's maybe a little more intense when it's all put together like that, but it's the gist of it. He literally did describe himself as "the fire" and that he would "burn people'' though. It's one of his favorite sayings, actually. My favorite is when he talks about setting our ward on fire with the members during lunch.
Some more fun facts about Elder Medeiros:
-He is from the South of Brazil, which he described as the 'Texas of Brazil' but if it was really cold. So it's basically like Texas fused with Wisconsin, which makes it the best state in Brazil.
-He's descended from the ancient rulers of Madeira, the most beautiful place in the world
-He has three transfers left in his mission so he's probably gonna die here. Every time he talks about how trunky he is, he follows it up with "so let's work until the dust!"
-He refuses to violate the Missionary Standards for anything
-He is obsessed with baptizing
-His favorite pastimes are working, speculating how 'wicked people' are going to be destroyed in the second coming, and trying to get our district to not be scared of him
-He sees dead people
-He sees dead people
-He's the coolest ever
If this sounds like it's just a fan letter about my new comp... it is. I'm sure he has the advantage of comparison from my 'trainer', but it's seriously incredible seeing such an experienced missionary work. We literally had 0 new people found this week when he arrived, and then we found 10 in 2 1/2 days. It's really humbling because I lo-key thought that I would be called as a senior comp or training a new missionary, which I think wasn't terrible in the sense that I still would've taught a new missionary significantly better than I was taught, but I now realize that in terms of skill and experience? I have basically none. Elder Medeiros is basically just retraining me- by "putting me in the fire" of course- and I didn't realize how much I needed a rock to build on instead of a weight to carry. It's so dope that I have at least one transfer to feast on this well of experience before I'm thrust into the dreary wilderness to find my own way.
Be Still (When you're not working of course)
Super quick spiritual thought this week. Obviously my time before transfers was a little distressing haha, so here's a little scripture from D&C 101:16 that helped me: "All flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God." I love this because it's perfectly succinct, and I think that if we truly understand who God is, all we need to know is that He is with us, and that we are truly in His hands in every moment, to feel comfort.
The District Monkey Advances
So, how am I doing this week? Well, I'm pretty tired. My feet hurt. I'm straining in every category I can to try and expand my capacity.
And you know what? I've never been happier.
God is Good,
Elder Ebbert
And you know what? I've never been happier.
God is Good,
Elder Ebbert
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