Murray Sighting!

Jeff and Preston and I stopped in Provo today to get some peaches (to make jam)...while we were looking over the choices, suddenly somebody hugged me from behind! Thank goodness (and to my great surprise) it was Aunt JoEllen and not some crazy person. (hahahaha) What fun to run into these guys!!! Even if they make me look reeeeeeeally short. haha

Too Funny Not to Share

Caption: "More bars in more places."

(an ode to poorly dressed missionaries everywhere)

Vitamin e-mail

25 de Abril Bridge in the Fog

It's email time joy to the world

HEY EVERYBODY

I just got back from the most amazing haircut of my life, once again. 10€ for washing my hair before AND after, and he did a perfect job.

Anyway, last week we cleaned the apartment like crazy, and I didn’t really take any pictures during that time.

Attached, however, is a picture from crossing Ponte 25 de Abril on our way to the Zone Conference in Miratejo (Corroios to be exact).

The other picture is one I just took. Crazy.

So I really don’t know what to report this week.

After about 5 weeks or so of Carla not answering the phone and not being home (or not answering the door, because we’re sure somebody was home at least a few times that we passed by), we finally got a hold of her. She still hasn’t been coming to church and hasn’t been keeping commitments. However, she said she has been having a bunch of problems at home and seems to think they correlate pretty well with not going to church and not reading etc. She has arrived at the point where many of us have (repeatedly) that we know what we have to do but ignore it so that we can blame it on something besides ourselves. We can’t do anything for her but keep encouraging her to take actions necessary to qualify for baptism and live a life worthy of the blessings promised to her.

We have a less-active member we have been working with (who has also not been answering calls nor going to church), and we stopped by his house (again) and he wasn’t home (again). We talked to his cousin for a little while, and then we went back up the stairs to leave. But we stopped halfway and thought that there was no reason not to teach him. So we went back and asked him, “So has Deco talked to you much about this church?” He let us in and we ended up teaching a complete lesson about the Restoration. He’s not really interested, and like every other Brazilian in this country he works all the time with crazy hours.

That’s pretty much the only progress we have made as far as the missionary work goes. Last week there was so much to do with zone conferences and visa stuff that we didn’t get out to our area except on Saturday and Sunday.

It’s been pretty hard to deal with. We got a call from a landlord who said that she wasn’t paid for the first month after the elders moved in – two years ago. So I went all over in the old records we keep, and I found a lot of horrible, horrible mistakes. I got really, really frustrated that night. There are a lot of things that frustrate me, but I usually don’t worry about them until I figure them out.

It’s crazy that here in the office it is so much easier and more immediately rewarding to do a bad job than a thorough one. So many people who have come into the office just wanted to learn to drive stick, take time off of missionary work, play around with the computers, call people (we have unlimited cell phone time), take pictures for the Caravela newsletter, drive all over the place on P Day (which was taken away just before I came in), and feel great about themselves.

I realized, whichever night that was, that the better job I try to do, the more frustrated I get, the harder it is, the more I worry about everything I do, and the more nitpicky and annoying I seem all come with trying to do a better job. However, if I do a great job, it will just wither away with the next secretary. After the mission was audited last year and many erroneous practices were corrected, it all reverted to the slacktastic quality just two secretaries down the line. It all settles to the path of least resistance, and that is of poor quality and lots of fun.

I ranted at Elder Christensen (my district leader – I also ranted at the AP’s because they have a big sway on who comes into the office) about this, because he does my “indicações” (a report on how I’m doing, strengths, weaknesses, etc.) and I made him promise that he would write something about how ridiculously concerned I am that this job is treated way too lightly and nobody (nope, not even me) ever really learns how to do it completely right.

I won’t repeat that rant, but I have heard the phrase “fake it ‘til you make it” quoted frequently about gaining new leadership positions that you’re not familiar with. It has definitely applied to secretaries in the past.

The bottom line is that I’m doing everything I can to ensure that this job is simplified and is made so easy that it would be a challenge to not do it right. We started outlining every step of everything we do to make it so clear what we do and why we do it all.

It’s been a big struggle for me. When I worked in offices before, I had escapes – even while I was working. Music, breaks, photoshop, email, etc. But there is no escape. I escape the office to go get yelled at or waved off by old Portuguese people. My time is devoted to everything and everybody but myself, and even during lunch and dinner time I would rather spend that time enjoying the company of the other office elders – it takes priority over my “me time.” There is so much I would love to do – and a lot I’m sure I really need to do to stay sane as a human being – but there just is not enough time to do it. I can’t seem to keep myself sane during the office time – President is rarely in the office, and we’re in such a mess with waiting on our new housing contract to be approved by the church office in Germany and with tons of missionaries moving around houses landlords need to get paid so they can get the keys, but they can’t get paid without President’s codes and things, so we are stuck in a mess we can’t pull ourselves out of.

When I used to prioritize my time and efforts, I used to be able to do it by my hourly wage versus how much it would gain for the company. For the job as the financial secretary, however, there is no hourly value of time, so my brain assigns equal value to everything. I know it’s not all equal in value, but I have no reference. So I freak out equally about everything. I’ve said this tons of times before, maybe not in letters but to other people, but I wish I could just turn my brain off sometimes. I can’t just sit back and relax.

It’s funny because all of the stress releases I had before are not allowed now, and I can easily track my increasing amount of stress since entering the MTC. I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing, but what relieves stress for everybody else in the world doesn’t usually relieve stress for me.

Things that relieve stress for me:
Music, writing (on the computer – I can’t write by hand fast enough), photoshop, photography, piano, guitar, walking around aimlessly at night, etc.

I’m not a huge fan of Mo Tab, though it is good, and most of the music that would do a lot for me does not follow the mission guidelines (focusing my thoughts on the Savior, on the work, etc). We can’t use mission computers for unauthorized purposes, and we can’t write to other people on any other day but P-Day. One hour for email, also, is the exact amount of time so that I hit my writing groove with about 10 minutes left. Always stressful. Photoshop isn’t going to happen. Photography is cool, but it best involves getting far away from just about everything. Can’t play piano except for a few minutes after church, but even then my time would be better spent talking to the members. I’ve forgotten too much of guitar for it to be relaxing. And I can’t walk around by myself aimlessly at night.

In the end, it all comes back to the same fundamental problem, though: creating desire.

When I’m stressed and read the scriptures, I am reading for the sake of reading. I am reading just because I know it’s a good thing to do. My mind isn’t focused. It’s not hugely tranquilized. To reap the blessings of reading the scriptures, I’m pretty sure you have to read for the right reasons. And I’m sure that my stress and everything is because I’m doing everything for not quite the right reason. But how do I change that? I have no idea.

Life goes on.

It’s the kind of thing that I could try to learn to deal with it and possibly conquer it, or I could forget about it and be content with a pretty constant level of craziness. Either way, I come out in the end with a measurable amount of craziness.

I love you all and hope all goes impeccably.

Go BYU.

ELDERLOBO

Mr. and Mrs Andrew R. Lobo

September 20 2008

Missão Portugal Lisboa, daqui fala o Elder Lobo, posso ajudar-te

Portuguese Coach Museum

Navegadores

Hey everybody!

Another week, another email, and another bunch of ridiculous stories.

Before the stories, business:

GO BYU. As you can imagine, by the time Monday rolls around, everybody wants to know the scores, including me. The BYU-Utah rivalry is all the way over here in Portugal, too. I’m not one for rivalries, but I do have Elder Prince’s (he just left the office) U of U shirt, which I’m probably going to turn over to President Terry (Elder Prince thought he left it in the mission home, and President was supposed to be keeping an eye out for it… President is a diehard BYU fan, as he said while he introduced himself in our Lisbon zone meeting yesterday.) Apparently everybody also thinks I’m supposed to know what happens to Oregon and Oregon State.

Portuguese in the office. When Elder Stott got in here, he had just came up from the Algarve with a Brazilian companion, Elder De Lima, and they spoke Portuguese all the time. In the office though, I’m of the opinion that we go crazy enough as it is doing everything that we do. We have no agreement whatsoever to speak Portuguese during the day, but we slip it in when it isn’t something funny or something ridiculously important. “Vocês já apanharam o correio?” Etc. I don’t want to spend 6 months in the office learning Office Portuguese (the missionaries have their own dialect, like pronouncing Sexta Feira like Seixta Feira, and I do all that I can to avoid listening to other elders speak Portuguese, except Elder Stott, who speaks the best in the mission, according to all the Portuguese elders).

“Can you tell me what makes the office elders such a special group? What characteristics do they have that gives them the opportunity to serve in this special way?”
Oh, goodness. I think it comes down to responsibility. The people that are in the office right now are pretty responsible (in the past it was definitely not the case, and a lot of what we do is to clean up after the way they left everything). We recognize that there is nobody else but us to clean up after our mistakes, and we refuse to pass it on to future secretaries. The office has really shown me that consequences are really what motivate people, and that people will eventually settle into the path of least resistance. We in the office try to make it so that the path of least resistance is the right one. I think we’re all individually invested in how well we do our jobs because when our companion leaves, it’s up to us, and then we have to teach the next secretary. If we don’t do our jobs right, it’s a mess, and we recognize that.

Stories.

Friday and Saturday, I was on a division with Elder Gustafson, who came into the mission when I got into the office. I gave his financial training on his first day. It was my first time going on a division with somebody younger than me (in the mission, age is the time you have in the mission). It was really cool. It reignited a lot of the greenie attitudes I had coming into the mission, but it helped me see how I have the attitude I have. It’s not that I lost any naivety, but I’m just seeing the value in different places. It’s hard to judge success, and I still don’t think I understand how to measure my own success, but Preach My Gospel makes it clear that it’s based on personal commitment. Success is a hard thing to identify on a daily basis. Effort and use of common sense are probably the only ways I know of to satisfactorily measure success. But it’s fun to remember what it was like to be really new in the mission. I’m only in my fifth transfer, but a lot changes pretty quickly.

Monday. We had to help with visas, since Elder Hobbs is not allowed to drive. They had a huge group of 12 people. I drove people to the Loja do Cidadão in Restauradores, going from the office, past the Benfica stadium, over through Praça de Espanha, through Marques de Pombal (the huge roundabout), and down into Restauradores. Elder Croshaw and I were all over the place, going to the bank, getting stuff for zone conference, driving people from Restauradores in Lisbon over to the Finanças place in Linda-A-Velha (which I found by memory, having only been there once in my second transfer), dropping Elder Croshaw off for a division in Lapa (which was fortunate for Elder Croshaw because the former financial secretary was staying the night in our house because zone conference was the next day), and then picking people up from the Finanças place and taking them back to the office. It was a crazy busy day. I got back, did pedidos (material requests), ordered pizza, did bills, reimbursements, a bunch of stuff. It was a pretty normal day, but with a lot of driving.

I’m mostly out of time, and I forgot to talk about P-Day last week. We went to the Portuguese Coach Museum in Belém, which was really cool. I attached some pictures. We got Pasteis de Belém (ridiculously good Pasteis de Nata), and took a bunch of pictures for the Caravela. While we were eating lunch on some stairs between two cafés, two or three people stopped, stared, and then took pictures of us eating. Tourists. So many tourists.

I feel like I’m at work, except instead of getting off at 5 to go home or do whatever, I go upstairs, eat dinner, and then we go do missionary work, the real job. The longer I stay here as financial secretary, the more I see that it’s not about the money – and that is what makes it so hard.

Pay your tithing.

Abraços,
Elder Lobo

be ye

Grande Lisboa

My favorite cereal (it has nutella inside) and my favorite milk!

Hey Everrrrrybody!

So I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to write about this week. The biggest things were P-Day last week, Transfer Day, Crazy Sacavém Dona, a funeral, and going a little crazy.

I guess I’ll start by answering all questions.

“How many new ties have you acquired since arriving in Lisbon?”
Since arriving in the country, I have probably 5 new ties, traded a couple, and gave away a couple. I don’t like wearing American ties very much, unless they are ridiculously awesome, like the one I am currently wearing, which I got from Elder Hobbs, who got it from Elder Davis, an AP who finished his mission a couple transfers ago (not my MTC comp). Ties are an interesting thing, because ties and pant style (you cannot be a real missionary, apparently, unless you have a pinstripe suit) are basically the only forms of visual expression you have as missionaries. You can tell a lot about a missionary by the kind of tie he wears. Every single tie I own is striped, and I only have two dark ties left. I like tan, blue, red, white, and gray in a tie, but not all at the same time. Green ties are also pretty cool, but they are often associated with Sporting, and I am a Benfiquista, so I am obligated to avoid green ties unless they are unbelievably awesome.

“…the pasta salad you said was the best you ever had, did you make it? Did you get a recipe for it? What was the dressing made of?”
I did indeed make this pasta salad. I did not have a recipe. Pasta salad is probably one of my top 5 favorite foods, as is likely known throughout our household, and I had many experiences of mixing things like cheddar cubes, pickle chunks, Italian dressing, peppers, etc. Over time, I found that smaller pastas are better, textures have to be balanced (not too much crunchy or too much squishy), and that the sauce is better when it preserves all the ingredients (Italian dressing demolishes pasta salads after about a day). I used a Churrasco cream sauce that I got from Continente (www.continente.pt) and it had a little bit of a kick to it. It was incredible.

“How much do you speak in Portuguese in the office?”
Not a whole lot. Office elders in the past have tried to mix in Portuguese in some of the office business, but it’s just confusing (especially when there are mistakes everywhere, like saying for “description” “descriação”, which means dis-creation. President depends on us being very good at what we do (he told me), so I think it is in everybody’s best interest to not mess it up. All of our stuff has to be legible by Salt Lake, and I don’t think we need to make it hard for them just to prove that we speak Portuguese.

“Last week I sent the "office elder lesson" to Elder Hobbs' mother along with the group photo you sent that he was in. She got a kick out of it!”
I realized this week, after nosing through our collection of apostate missionary books (The Missionary’s Little Book of Quotes, 100 Traits of a Whole-Hearted Missionary, etc.) that I have never heard nor seen a book or any other kind of material (not even produced by the Church – no training manual, nothing in Preach My Gospel, nothing in the Missionary Handbook – there is no mention of an office elder anywhere in anything I have read by the Church). I figure it’s only fair that office elders have something beyond the whining/nagging of the mission and Salt Lake to acknowledge their existence. I guess if the “Gospel of the Office” (as it has been called by the others here in the office) makes it into the hands of other office elders, I say, “I feel ya brotha. I feel ya.” It’s like giving a high five to the truck driver who delivers your food to the grocery store. High five, truck driver! Haul them beets.

P-Day last week was pretty cool. Elder Croshaw volunteered to help pick up missionaries (since Elder Hobbs can’t drive), so Elder Hobbs and I went down to Castelo São Jorge in Lisbon to go moleskinning (moleskine is the amazing little notebook in which I write anything of value). Basically, we like our chill time. We took some funny pictures, listened to a cool guy play classical Portuguese guitar music in the castle, and got a few things documented about the happenings in our everyday mission lives. It was pretty cool.

Transfer Day. Elder Croshaw and I went in the van to pick up a bunch of the new missionaries, and it was crazy. It was like reliving my first day. I looked at everything again realizing how strange it all was. Seeing a sign with a Portuguese word on it was momentarily cool again. Roundabouts were fun again (they really aren’t). Talking to the missionaries about the MTC made me realize how small and short-sighted of a perspective you have when you get into the actual mission. In the MTC, you get blown away with a fire hose that if you are doing all the little things right, nothing else matters. But when you look at somebody and try to initiate a conversation of eternal importance, all of the obsession with momentary necessities fades into its place on the planner.

Elder Croshaw had to go with President and the real estate representative of the Europe West Area to deal with a crazy dona (landlord) and all of the stupid, stupid things the missionaries had done to her house. She was saying that we had broken things (true), damaged things (very true), and stolen things (false). President wouldn’t have any of that. Even though the missionary program is the biggest liability for the Church, we stupid 19-to-whatever-year-old people are not here to cause trouble, and the Gospel is true and incredible, regardless of our stupidity. And, we’re all very, very expensive. I don’t think I’m allowed to say how expensive, but I’ll just say that the $10000 to come on a mission is not NEARLY enough for how much we each cost.

I went with Elder Wardenburg to a funeral and burial for a member in our ward (he was with me in the MTC) while Elder Croshaw was in Sacavém. I didn’t know him very well (aside from hearing about him genuinely confused if Elder Croshaw’s drivers license picture was of him or a girl because he had long hair), but his Catholic family was there. Man, without a basic understanding of the Plan of Salvation, death is not a very fun experience.

I’m out of time, I hope everything goes well, and GO BYU.

Amo todos vós!

Elder Lobo

Funny comment from Elder Lobo

I sent Christian an email about the Stake conference we had on Sunday...it was a broadcast from Salt Lake (actually the Marriott Center) featuring Pres. Packer and Pres. Uchtdorf. It went to like 130someting stakes including all the BYU stakes. Pres Uchtdorf said something about how more boys in Utah need to be worthy and prepared to serve missions. He said (something like) the following, "To all the young men here in Utah who are of missionary age but haven't chosen to go: Forget about that big truck with the huge wheels, and think about serving your heavenly father. Those trucks are a risky investment anyway, and I don't know why they are so popular with the Utah county young men."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I about died. Too funny!!!
Here's Christian's response....

"Oh man incredible. Elder Uchtdorf is the man. I think it's good that he
said to leave the trucks behind, because so many people come on missions anyway
without leaving their trucks behind (they never stop talking about them)."

I love Pres. Uchtdorf....he really speaks his mind! He came to our stake in Portland shortly before we moved (we got a new stake president). He had stayed with the old stake president (who was in our ward) at their house. On their way to the airport, Pres. Uchtdorf asked if they could stop by the Portland Temple so he could make a quick visit. I guess they had lots of extra time. On the way to the temple, the stake pres's car (a BMW) started flashing a warning that one tire was going flat. They pulled over to check it out. The stake president apologized to Pres. Uchtdorf and asked if they should continue to the temple, or call somebody to come and trade cars. His response was:

"President, you are driving German steel!! Drop me off at the Temple (they were almost there) and go get your car fixed. Then come back for me."

hahaha good story! The stake president's wife told us about it in church the next day. :)

40 Years!!!!

Today Celso and I celebrate our 40th anniversary!!!! I always thought people with such an anniversary were OLD!!! Hummm.

Garen is home!

I know this is a little late in coming, but I don't have the airport pictures (mom and dad do). Garen arrived home from the Czech Republic on July 31st. We are thrilled to have him home, and have enjoyed learning about the Czech Republic while he was here with us. He is already off to start school at BYU, but before he left, I did get these pictures of him and Ethan together:

Dallin and his new bride, Mikell, were also here last weekend for their Casper wedding reception. Here are a few pictures of them that I caught in between cutting cake and tracking my kids down:


We are grateful that Dallin found such a wonderful girl to spend eternity with! We have enjoyed getting to know Mikell, and can't wait to spend more time together! They, along with Sheridan, are also at BYU this semester, so we have lots of reasons to visit Utah frequently in the months to come!

Word from the Sharps in Hurricane Land!!!

Heidi ho… from hurricane alley,

We have the generator going intermittently, running our elderly neighbor’s fridge & freezer; and our:

Fridge
Window a/c
Fans
Bread maker!
Microwave
Computer
Internet router
Radio
Scanner
Ham radio (also on 12 volt back up)

Yet to run the washer & dryer!

The only problem is the price of gas and availability­the generator takes about a gallon an hour! The freezer is getting down to 4 degrees, but the fridge is having a hard time getting below 58 degrees since Mitch and Leah brought everything from their freezer and fridge over…we had tried to rotate generators among the three houses, but that was not too efficient. Ashley and Jared are bringing their fridge stuff to his parent’s today, and sleeping over here tonight­Leah and Justin went to Lafayette today­her sister has power over there­Justin’s asthma started acting up. We get to take care of Shelby while they are away. Mitch is the only one back to work so far. School and work for everyone else is tentatively Monday…but that is contingent on A LOT!!!

Only about 95% of our parish has power…large generators are running at some gas stations, thankfully. We were able to fill four 5 gal gas cans this morning (~$85) at our neighborhood Wal-Mart about 8am in a walk up line after waiting about a half hour­that will last a couple of days depending on how much we run the generator. We have a full tank in the van, and about 3 weeks of diesel for the Jetta­that we got before the storm. Apparently diesel is at a premium due to all the emergency uses for it, Apparently the only reason we have water pressure is due to back up diesel generators the water company has here in Baton Rouge, and the fact that they own their own tanker truck to pick it up from the refinery themselves!

An assessment team from the Church came by yesterday­they are canvassing all the members to assess damage and needs. Elders Amott and Lyman went to the mission office yesterday. One was flying home today, the other was sent on assignment. Both BR and NO airports are functional now.

So I have baby Logan on my lap, a doggie to on each side, and Aurora is helping Grandpa sweep! How much better can it get?

Love, Marg

Power still may be days to weeks away here.

Lesson 2

Transfer Board

Zone meeting in Lapa

CAKE!!

Tennis on clay!

Hey everybody!

I got the package!! Those fruit nuggets are INCREDIBLE. Thanks for the replacement razor heads and the pens -- those things are like gold here.

I found an Oregon quarter and gave it to Irmã Miquelina (by the way, everybody here seems to go by their first name.. FYI). She gave me a Ponte 25 de Abril Escudo coin (from 1966 I think). I realized that Oregon quarters would be cool to have to give to members. It’s fun to give stuff to members. So next time you send a package or something, you should include a bunch of Oregon quarters.

So I guess this letter will include a brief description of how ridiculously incredible my birthday was last week:

So Chimarrão was really good. The location is so cool!!! We could see down into Lisboa and over Linda-A-Velha into Oeiras and the Rio Tejo onto the Atlantic. It was pretty cool eating churrasco in Portugal, especially since all the servers were Brazilian! CHURRASCÃO

Then we went over a little in Monsanto over to the tennis courts, and we played tennis on clay. It was so cool. Playing tennis felt sooooo good. I felt like a real human being – not a missionary ID. It was funny because a few people said that if we liked tennis so much that we should be careful to not let it make us “trunky.” Elder Croshaw and I were trying to define the word “trunky” today on the way back from getting groceries at Colombo, and we realized that missionaries seem to make it into an umbrella that includes anything you like as an individual. But really, we decided that playing tennis helped us feel at home. What could be a better place to feel at home than on a mission?

In my interview with President yesterday he asked the usual, “so do you have any questions,” and I finally had one! I asked him what he thought about the pernicious philosophy in the mission that “If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.” I realized lately that my experience so far on the mission shows a huge flaw in my psyche, that I somehow believe that whenever I am happy or comfortable that I am not working hard enough. He referred me to the story of when Laman and Lemuel were on the boat over to the Promised Land. They “made themselves merry” so much that they became rude and lost the Spirit. Just think of how the First Presidency and Apostles probably behave themselves in a group situation.

Friday was transfer meeting and we got Subway wooo. More on transfers shortly (and you don’t want to miss it!)

On Saturday, I finally realized that the Office has been the best thing to happen to me (baptisms and etc are for the benefit of others) on the mission.

While having one of our many incredible kitchen conversations, it came to pass that Elder Croshaw and I expounded unto Elder Hobbs the greatness that really is the Office. We even taught it to him as a lesson (with all the Preach My Gospel teaching skills, committing him to look at the transfer board with us when the time came):

Basically, God is our loving Heavenly Father, and he created this world and His plan so that all of his children could be happy for eternity if they chose to follow it. He gave us the opportunity to serve as missionaries to bless our lives and the lives of others.

The office itself blesses missionaries. For the mission, this place is where the reference sheets get done, the bills get paid, the Caravela (the transferly newsletter in which we include a “wicked sweet” picture) enlightens the whole mission, we all get pizza for zone conference, etc. The office even is a blessing for the unit of office elders therein.

The good news of the office is brought about in dispensations. A dispensation is when a new office elder is called into the office, and the magic of the mission is revealed unto him for four transfers.

However, as a necessary part of being alive, we all had to fall. That is definitely true for office elders. They fall from the normal duties of a missionary, and have to work with the sweat of their brow to have time to leave the office. But this fall was necessary, and it introduces the office elder into a world where he can learn to understand the magic in the mission, as well as gaining the ability to differentiate good from evil in the mission (such as sending in your reimbursements only when they are approved versus requesting sacred tithing money unnecessarily).

The magic of the office, however, is on a whole new level that transcends that of the regular missionary. It is finer and purer, and the regular missionary, even though he frequents the office or lounges in the office on transfer day, cannot understand. The magic of the office is in the Transfer Board, the Mission Office System, the bill paying, the referral sheets, the trips to the bank, driving to your area, receiving packages the day they arrive into your hands in the office, etc. This magic is something the regular missionary cannot comprehend, even though he or she will comprehend such things later in life. The office elder gets this magic revealed unto him in the mission, even before he goes home.

Only the office elder can accept these blessings, and they must be completing their duties to the best of their abilities. To be an office elder, though, you must take upon yourself the name of either Executive Secretary or Financial Secretary. Once you take upon yourself the name of your type of office elder, you accept the office for the incredibly magical place that it is. It brings peace and joy that endures all the malice and hate from the rest of the mission. Comments such as “You guys got home at 10:00?? Fubecas!” lose their sting, because you accept the fact you are an office elder, and you had to have a late lesson because that was the only time you had to work in your area. Taking upon yourself the name of office elder (especially Financial Secretary) is a great blessing for those worthy of the title.

After your time in the world of the Office, you go to post-office life, which is the time between leaving the office and resurrecting back into Babylon. With the knowledge you have gained in the Office, you have so much advantage in this world that is to come.

Resurrection, Judgment, and the Glory of the magic all follow post-office life. Judgment follows by those who discover that you served in the office, but you will retain the magic that you gained in that time that you lived in the office. Once taking upon yourself the name of office elder, you claim and lay hold upon all the promised blessings for time and all eternity.

No joke.

We are going to give this lesson to Elder Cobb tomorrow night.

And.

TRANSFERS.

Elder Prince is going to Seixal to serve with Elder Daley from my group.
Elder Cobb (from the group below mine) is coming to serve with Elder Hobbs.
Elder Rindfleisch is finishing his mission as AP.
ELDER STOTT IS COMING IN TO REPLACE HIM AS AP!!!!

Do you have any idea how crazy awesome this is??? Elder Hobbs AND Elder Stott with me reunited in the same house. All we need is Elder Blackburn.

Elder Baldwin finishes his mission tomorrow, and he would have been going home with Elder Stott in January. He’s released honorably, three transfers early.

That’s about it for today.

I love you all, and I hope everything goes well.

I’m out of time.

ELDER LOBO