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