So this week I almost lost my companion. Not the kind of lost where he gets sick of me telling him how foolish he is for not obeying my commands, and also of me hitting him when he doesn't do it exactly when I say, and then runs away because he's a little wimp. That was week two in the field. He eventually got more submissive, and now I'm training him to make milkshakes for me and also make jokes, so he can keep me well-fed and good-humored whenever I need, so all's well with him in that sense. I got him whipped into servile shape, so I really can't complain anymore.
No, this week my companion almost kind of died, kind of started falling apart, just with some pains and health problems. He was just kind of...falling apart for a day or two. Started off with some sharp pains in his legs (which we're finally going to the doctor for tomorrow in Aracaju), and then some pain in his feet, and then his wisdom teeth started coming in, putting all sorts of unhappiness in his mouth. So we ended up going through town, stopping by every dental clinic in the city until we finally found a clinic that could do a same-day extraction. So this was really cool for me, because I got to see how dentists do things down here. In fact, the dentist let me watch right over his shoulder as he hacked away at Elder Marques´s gums to get to the devilish little wisdom tooth. It was great, because the dentist was so calm and happy-go-lucky, that he even let me have a go! He was just like, "Hey, you look like you could use some brushing up on your dental surgery skills, why don't you give this one a shot? You know this missionary, right? Yeah I'm surrrrrre he'll be fine if you just, you know, as long as you keep the blood from getting on his nice white shirt! Nothing to it, it's all in the wrists, all in the wrists!" And it was my very first surgery, but the dentist said I did a GREAT job! Said that I might need to work on causing less severe bleeding, and not cut out extra teeth next time, though. He also apologized on Elder Marques's behalf, for all the wriggling and screaming, because it was making me just a little nervous. All I could do was just shake my head and say, "Well, thank goodness for those hand restraints and sedatives. I'll just have to keep training him to take pain better."
But all's well that ends well, right? Okay, so that story may be relatively false, but Elder Marques is in WAY better shape now than he was before the surgery. The poor man was essentially freaking out from all the wisdom tooth pain, so it was a huge relief to be able to find a dentist that could do the extraction. Afterwards, the dentist told him to just relax for the next couple days, stay out of the sun, and eat lots of ice cream (you know, soft foods to keep bleeding from happening). So Elder Marques went straight for the ice cream section in the market afterwards, and bought a few bricks of ice cream (taking the dentist very literally), and then went straight to bed afterwards. So after that, he and I got a bit of a lazy-ish day, just staying inside and studying.
I did splits the next day, with Elder Justino (who is time is running out on the mission, he's got 4 weeks left), and we went looking for people to teach. With him, it's never a problem, because EVERYBODY loves the guy! It's pretty easy to work alongside him, and it's always a productive time. So almost right off the bat, we got invited into a family's house to teach, and things were going pretty great. We were teaching a couple of young brothers, and one of their friends, about the Gospel of Jesus Christ...Faith, repentance, baptism, etc. And it was very cool for me, because the lesson was just flowwwwwing, and the boys were eating it up. And then their parents joined the discussion, listened gave some input. And I was feeling pretty focused and confident until I realized what the couple was wearing. I'll keep it to this much when I say, we were teaching a man with pants and no shirt, and a woman with a shirt and no pants. You know it really wasn't even very funny, until I realized that between the both of them, they literally were wearing only enough for one complete outfit. So, the lesson continued as normal, and still went AWESOMELY well. Looks like at least 2 baptisms are going to come out of it.
EY! I HAVE PHOTOS FOR YOU THIS TIME! Yeah! So 1) I MADE COOKIES SUCCESSFULLY! OW OW! I was SO happy, because they tasted almost EXACTLY like your cookies, momma! So, after spending about $30 on ingredients, and now having no food budget money for the next couple days, I will be living off COOKIES! Woo! And my companion, after telling me that he thought cookies were just bad, said that the cookies were REALLY good! So I would consider that one more soul baptized into the one true church of dessert-making. Seriously, that cookie recipe has the power of convincing the non-believers, seriously consider capitalizing on that and making a cookie business down here! Annnnnnd 2) is....okay, you might not believe me, or see it, but I can promise that there are 2 or 3 monkeys in this picture. Might have to zoom in on it a bit, but they're there! Turns out we've actually got a family of them living in the backyard! Now, you just tell me HOW COOL THAT IS?? Unfortunately though, you can't touch them or get too close, because they supposedly carry rabies, so I'm kissing my chances goodbye of getting a photo up close for fear of getting turned into a monkey-man that foams at the mouth.
LOVED hearing about halloween! Also, about the hair thing... there IS a possibility that my hairline's drawing back at the temples....hope not though! We'll see what the next 20 months do to that, eh? But ma, you'll still love me if I'm bald, right? ;)
LOVE YOU
Elder Reneer
p.s. I might send another photo or two right quick, they won't fit on this email.
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