Elder Merrill's Mission: Week of the death

Dear fam,

Well, I'm currently companionless. I got up at 5:45 to go with Elder Millaqueo to the airport, put him on the plane, and came back. So sad. He was kinda depressed the whole week since it was his last, but the mission just can't last forever... it's gotta end sometime. He was the first missionary I killed (missionary jargon that means being the last companion). But I know who my next companion will be.... Elder Vasconcelos. De novo! If you don't remember, we were companions one transfer from April to the end of May in Jardim Odete, and we'll be together for just 6 weeks since he dies (finishes his mission) at the end of this transfer. Which also means I'll probably stay for 2 more transfers here. I like this area, so I'm chill with that.

Being the last week, Elder Millaqueo had a Self-Reliance course one day and went to the temple another, so I got to spend a little bit of time with my dad on the mission, Elder Rodrigues! (His comp went home today too) It was fun to get together for a lil spurt.

We did a division in Vila Lavínia with the Zone Leaders there. I spent the day with Elder Patson, who was my first District Leader when I was in Cohab, and it was cool to relive some great memories. I still feel like he's my District Leader, I learned a ton from him in that one day we spent together. He's awesome.

Starting with the first Sunday of this month, we started singing Christmas hymns in sacrament meeting, it made me so happy.

Also last sunday I played the piano, gave a talk, gave the Gospel Principles lesson (which we've been giving for about 9 weeks now, the teacher was released.... our preparation is stellar, we get to the class, open the manual to see what the lesson is, then just go hahaha. This last week was about the Gathering of Israel, which was a little harder to do on the fly, but we managed:)

I'm tired, I'm happy, and I'm excited for this next transfer. Should be awesome.

Love you all!

Elder Merrill