Ramos Mejia- Week #70

Hey Family,

Another week in the books…they are passing by so quickly now…I don’t even know what to write, because it feels like I just wrote you yesterday. Well, Elder Sabey’s birthday was fun. We celebrated it yesterday with President and Hermana at the mission home. They cooked us breakfast, egg casserole and pancakes…it was so good. Then we went golfing with President. It was fun, and I did a lot better than last time we went. I took a few videos so you could see my athletic prowess…I only lost one ball in the water hazard. So that was fun yesterday. It wasn’t actually his birthday yesterday though. It was last Friday, so to celebrate together we bought a pineapple and ate it. Our tongues were pretty ripped up after from the acid intake. Have you ever tried eating a whole pineapple before? Let’s just say when it is your birthday, or your companions, you just have to be wild and eat a whole pineapple. Sounds like everyone is keeping busy with the holidays coming up, while here in Argentina I haven’t even seen one hint of Halloween…it isn’t very big here. I actually can’t believe it is this week.

Well, Elder Sabey and I came to the realization that no matter what our companionship is coming to an end in four short weeks. It definitely will be weird to have a different companion, after being with him for four transfers. We were talking about it in our weekly planning, and realized that for both of us this has been the most successful companionship we have ever been a part of, and that we have been blessed with more baptisms in this ward than any other companionship that has served here before, as far as the mission records go. I am not saying that to brag, or put us up in the spotlight, because it really did humble us. We realized that we have two baptisms planned for the end of the transfer, and two things could happen. 1. It would be really easy to coast until the end. We would still have two baptisms this transfer and we could reminisce about the glory days of yester-transfers, and no one would really be the wiser. We would still have had a great companionship, but after talking about it, we both agreed that we don’t care about how things were in “the good ol' days…because these ARE the good ol’ days!” HAHAHA ok sorry, that was just a family inside joke…good old Denson Bates from Bossier Ward talking about the good old days. Anyway, moral of the story is that we chose option 2. We decided to sprint to the finish, as they say, and give this last month every single thing we have left to end one of the most important relationships I have had in my mission. We set some pretty high goals, and are going to do all we can to stay diligent and meet them. We also took a moment to realize that it might still be that we only end up with two baptisms, and to the outside world, to the mission, to the ward, and to President, it looks as if situation one occurred, but we know what the Lord expects out of us, and we want to do the right things for the right reasons. So we are excited for what happens this month we have left together.

So yesterday Hermana Benton said something that really hit me. She always has these one-liners that sound like they should go into an inspirational quote book, because they inspire me to try and do better more often than not. In Argentina there is a phrase that people love using. It is “Drop the cane”. They use it when someone is chewing someone else out…or calling them to repentance or something. It is used a lot during General Conference. For example, Elder Scott dropped the cane on pornography. Or, my mom dropped the cane on me for getting home late. (Hypothetical example) Anyway, we were talking about it at breakfast yesterday, and Hermana Benton had some really good insight on it. She mentioned how she didn’t think it was a very effective way to try and correct someone’s actions. Then she said, “People already know all about their faults. They need their strengths emphasized.” It is so true. GO HERMANA BENTON! People need to hear the great things they are doing, not just the things they need to do better. It is something that I am going to try and do better at. So, as a missionary of the Lord I challenge anyone reading this to try and give out a few more sincere compliments this week, and see how you help brighten someone else’s day. President and Hermana Benton are the masters at giving compliments. They notice little things that others do and thank them for it. Let’s not take the people around us for granted. Anyway, that’s all I have for this week. I hope you all have a happy Halloween. Thanks for all the pictures family. Keep them coming.

Love, Elder S. Michael Gilmore

P.S. yeah I got all the cereal Dad, it is great!