Well, the best news of this week is that we finally moved out of our cave apartment! I honestly can't believe how many miracles we have seen during this move. We went from what I believe was the worst apartment in the entire mission to what is probably one of the best, if not the best! Sorry about last week....I was about 20 mins into my email time when the guy at the Internet cafe (they call it a LAN HOUSE here.....I don't know why....) decided that he wanted to eat lunch, and so he cut off everyone's internet...that was a nice surprise! Also, President Lanius decided that he doesn't want us to email outside of our families....anyone can send to me, but I will only respond to my family members by email....I'll try and get to the rest of you with letters if it's possible, but I will say, it is becoming a bit difficult to find time to write! I'll always try my best!! I promise.
Elder Bochio finally got better....I went back to Abreu e Lima Tuesday morning. Spending a week in your apartment during the last 4 months of your mission does not do good things to a missionary. Elder Bochio's head was almost completely in the clouds, thinking about home. He doesn't have a ton of motivation to do the difficult and tiresome things (like making contacts or walking.....By the way, I LOVE making contacts....I think it's one of my favorite things to do honestly)...It's been a little bit of a fight with him (we get along FANTASTICALLY, but I feel like I have to throw him on my shoulders every once in a while and get to work).
We have been teaching a couple of young men....João Paulo and his half brother Leonardo....Elder Bochio is an amazing teacher....he seriously has a gift....he teaches so that anyone who is listening wants to keep listening. I'm learning and applying a lot of the things that I'm seeing him do (aside from the lazy-bones stuff!). Leonardo is more golden of the two. He said he's been searching for the truth for a longgg time, and he had an amazing experience when he went to pray to ask about the truth of the church and the Book of Mormon. The only thing....we found out that he has a girlfriend....I don't know how it is in other missions, but especially here....it gets complicated when we have to find out if they are legally married or just living together. We are in the process of marrying a couple now (yes....still), and let me say....it's not a fun experience. Means to end though? In the end it will all be worth it, but I don't think that it's something that is a wise use of our time.
We spent a good 3 days of our week cleaning, moving, organizing, and cleaning again our apartment. Boy is it a sweet setup. We had half of our zone here to help us with the move....forget about a rental truck here, we used the Priesthood for this move! We carried everything to our new house....it went pretty quick actually....a good "bonding" experience for our zone too. It must be pretty funny for the people here to see two Americans with ridiculous tan lines (we moved in P-day clothes) carrying a sofa in the middle of the street at 7 PM....one of the things that cracks me up here is the attention that I get.
We had to go to Recife twice to visit the doctors for Elder Bochio...It's about 3 hours of time wasted each time. I know it sounds like my letters are probably getting less and less "missionary"-like....We still are teaching people and helping people to change their lives, but these last two weeks, it's been real complicated. I'm longing for the simplicity of the last week that I had in Alabama....all we did was work, tract, teach, and tract some more....it was a tiresome week, but nothing beats it....Transfers are next week....I can't imagine I'm going anywhere, and I think that Elder Bochio too is here to stay, but who knows. A mission is a crazy thing, but seriously.....It's crazy good! I love this work! I love it with all my heart! I want my companions to love it too! I think that's one of the hardest things for me is trying to transmit that love. Who said it was easy though...
Until next time,
-Elder McKinley
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