Yesterday was one of the most stressful days of my life. But life is good.

I remember well when I started working at the Fast Trip gas station in Washington, Missouri, Shortly after starting there I was asked one day to work on the head register. This meant that I would have to watch over 20 gas pumps, approve each person that wanted to buy gas and confirm that they paid and didn´t drive off without doing so. Besides this I also had to continue in all the normal functions in the gas station.
On this day it was a Saturday of a holiday weekend and the gas station was packed. The managers were yelling at me, I had let three people drive away without paying and I could not remember who they were. I started my shift at 7:00 and ended at 5:00.
Few times in my life I have been as mentally and physically drained as I was that day. One of those few times was yesterday.

Elder Dos Anjos and I planned to do exchanges with the zone leaders in a nearby city named Jundiaí, the same city where I started my mission. We had planned to call each of our companions so that they could go with us to Jundiaí to switch up with the other missionaries. If our companions did not accompany us there would be no way to do exchanges and we would be stuck in Jundiaí. We told our companions that we would call them the night before to give them all the information on how things would work.
As Elder Dos Anjos and I finished talking about the progress and goals of the mission that night, we called our companions to plan the exchanges. Nobody answered after 10 calls. We thought ´´oh well, we will call them in the morning.``
We called in the morning. No answer again.
At this point I started to feel like my Dad while I was in high school. I said to Elder Dos Anjos, ´´Well, I guess we will have to assume that they are dead, they don´t answer, they don´t call back. Yep, they are dead.``
We decided to go to Jundiaí to visit the zone leaders, and we would just have to stay there.
On the bus to Jundiaí, I really started to get worried about how this would end. I called again, no answer.
I told Elder Guilherme, the nearby district leader to go to my house and ask them why they don´t answer, why they don´t call back, and what the heck they have been doing.
A few hours later I get a call from Elder Guilherme telling me that he found our companions sitting in there pajamas, in the house, in the middle of the day, doing nothing. He gave them an earful and told them to get ready to go to Jundiaí.
They showed up four hours late and upon arrival my companion asked me for money to pay for the bus. I asked him what he had done with the fifty reals I gave him. He then told me that he spent it on soda, ice cream and pizza.
Then I was finally on my way back I realized that my companion didn´t give me the keys and that I had no way to get in the house. I had been out of the area for many days and I had no way to plan because all of the materials were locked in the house.
At this point I truly understood a little bit of why my dad would sit me down and give me talks aboutt responsibility sometimes. It finally hit me.
Nevertheless, the Lord blessed me and Elder Stein and we were able to teach many great families that night and the work is truly going great.
I am learning a lot. Also, I don´t want you all to think that my companion is a bad guy, he is awesome and yesterday was just a rough day. But the fifty bucks on ice cream, pizza, and soda really pushed me to the limit, but, I am learning a lot.

I love you all,
Elder Nothum

Hello!

This past week was amazing. I arrived in my new area, Costa e Silva, and there was nobody. Elder Wolp and I deicided that we would give our all and we were sure that we would find someone interested in our message. So we were off.
We made a goal to do ask for refferals from everyone. Every person in the street, every family we taught, every person that gave us the light of day we were asking them if they knew anyone that would like to hear this is message or if there was anyone new in the area who had recently moved.
After four days of this and a peeling nose from the heat of the brazilian sun we were both dead. We woke up on Saturday and got ready to work knowing that we had not one single person to teach and that untill now, our work had seemed almost worthless. I really waqnted to find a good family to teach, but I that morning I prayed just asking Heavenly Father to do his will and even if I didn´t find a family that day, I told Him that I will still work my brains out.
So we were off, with the same additude. We talked to everyone. We found this one woman who we thought was a member but then she said that she was Catholic and that she wanted nothing to do with us, I think she might have sworn at us but I am not sure, she turned her back to go into her home and then I asked for two cups of water for me and my companion. It was so dang hot that if she denied us water it might have been a crime, so she went and grabbed some.
When she came back I asked her if she knew her neighbors well, she relpied that she did. I asked her if any of them had moved recently, she pointed to an orange house.
Seconds later we clapped in front of the orange house, as you have to in brazil, because they usually don´t have doorbells and they have big walls, so you got to clap.
We then met an amazing family that consists of Luciano, Tanya, and their 14 year old daughter Gabriela. They went to church on Sunday and they really enjoyed it. They are loving reading the Book of Mormon and they are truly a lot happier because the doubts that the gospel cleared up for them. They are good friends and we love them a lot.
Got to go!!

I love you all!!!!!

-Elder Nothum

Hey there everyone,

So, I have been transfered to Costa e Silva where I am opening the area with my new companion Elder Wolp Farius, a Brazilian from Fortaleza Brazil. He seems like the timid type. But he is a hard worker and he has a lot of desire to do the Lord´s work. I asked him what were his personal goals this transfer and he told me that his main goal was to learn and understand more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I think that I should do that too.
It was extremely hard to leave the area of Progresso e Ponte. I loved the members there and the investigators as well.
Elder Latham truely became my best friend. I 100% myself around the guy and he was 100% himself with me. It was like working side by side with Jamieson or one of my friends from back home. We laughed hard and we worked hard. I was never down or felt unexcited around him, we were also giving our all and smiling as we did it. I learned a lot about the importance of being the friend of those you work with, and it truly changes the work and brings a strong spirit of unity, which in return, brings the spirit.
Elder Christensen is now the companion of Elder Latham and I know that they will do great there in Progresso e Ponte.
As this transfer began I started to feel really unqualified. I felt that I would be able to meet the expectations of those around me. I felt that I wasn´t ´´good enough`` to do what I need to. I guess that overwhelmed would be the word. Then, after a meeting President Tanner gave us a ride to a restaurant, there was not enough room in the car so I had to lay down in the cargo space of his mini-SUV. As I was laying down, everything was going through my head, the sadness of leaving Progresso e Ponte and Elder Latham, the anxiousness of going to a brand new area, and the fact the missionaries before us in the new area had a TON of success and everyone will expect the same from us. As all this ran through my head, I started to pray and talk to Heavenly Father about it all. During and after the prayer I felt a peace, I knew that Heavenly Father would take care of everything If I just did my very best and gave my all. So, that is what I am going to do.
I love you all and please, please, keep me in your prayers.

- Elder Nothum -