I'm being transferred! I don't know where yet! Tomorrow, I'll find out if it's my destiny to stay here in Missão Brasil Campinas, or if I'm headed to the new Piracicaba mission! Also, Elder Zacheu will train a greenie [new missionary]! Yes, I was shocked, but he's super qualified...I know I didn't train him perfectly, but he's doing well and knows how to work. Also, Elder Gaines [another missionary in his apartment] is being transferred, which was even more surprising because he's only been in Vinhedo for one transfer.
I'm actually going to miss Vinhedo a lot. We've had a lot of success here. We've made a lot of friends. We've had a lot of trials. I have a lot of people to say goodbye to today. People who I may never see again during this life. There's Eurico and Simone and their family, Diógenes and Leia, Hiago and his family, Gabriel, Christian, Mazinho and Angela, Bishop Iglezia and his family...I hope there's time to talk to everyone.
I'm doing good, and I've learned a good deal here in Vinhedo, especially from Elder Zacheu. It was a little intimidating to train this young guy who already knows a good part about missionary work. We haven't always seen eye to eye, but he's a good guy who's out here for the right reasons. I've learned a lot about my own faults and what I can do to improve. There is really nothing like the mission to show you how imperfect you are! I was thinking about that. I think one success about the whole idea of the mission is that there is a clear bar placed waaay above our heads that we are expected to reach. We learn of others who reached that bar by reading their stories in the scriptures, and by studying the life of our Savior, the One who established the bar through his example. We learn how to reach the bar by applying the stuff in PMG [Preach My Gospel guide] and the missionary manual. I've never had such a high bar than when on this mission. And it's awesome because we see ourselves growing. Most don't actually touch the bar, but all missionaries end up growing. And it's the growth that matters.
Okay, have a great week!
Elder Bradgeefordgee
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| AJ near central Vinhedo at Praça José Von Zuben square and 'The Fountain of Friendship'. The globe rotates on a column of water and has fiber-optic lights highlighting Brazil and Italy to pay tribute to the immigrants who built the history of Vinhedo. |
