Shopping Spree
Hey friends! It’s transfer week and boy oh boy do I got news for you! I am staying right where I am at with the same comp! That doesn’t mean transfer week is chill. Today is p-day but would it really be p-day without a meeting in the office at 9am and three truckloads of deliveries? This week I also became a professional appliance shopper. I probably bought more appliances in the past week than I will buy in my adult life.
Friday
With transfers coming up quickly we had to open some new houses because we are getting more missionaries (who would have thought)! I submitted requests last Monday but nothing got done and it was already the end of the week. Great. As the hours wound down I decided to send an email to Salt Lake who responded way quicker than the area. After some direction from Salt Lake I figured out what I needed to do to get it approved, the only problem was that it involved the area and the area doesn’t like to respond to me. I did some digging and found a contact at the area that was supposedly responsible for this stuff. I sent him a message and he responded, thank goodness. However, he called me and told me he didn’t have access to do what I needed and that I needed to talk to my analyst. Okay great but she doesn’t respond to me. I then got put in a thread with this other lady that added this other guy who then had access to what I needed. After 30 minutes of waiting and it already being 5 o’clock he called me and did the approval on a video call to show me how it worked. He got it done and I immediately sent an email back to Salt Lake who finished it right then. It was so great. 100% the miracle of the week. As soon as that was done I went in and told President that it was ready and we bought pizza with the APs. That was the day. It was pretty fun to scramble at the very last hour on Friday to get it done but hey with the help of some helpful people it worked out.
Adult Life
Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for a day of work outside of the office, or so we thought. At 9am we got a phone call from Sister Andrade asking if we were able to leave and go buy things for the new houses. I did not think that I would be furnishing houses this early in my life. Either way, of course we said yes and she goes “great I am here.” Not even a heads up she just showed up to our house and then asked if we could not… so in reality it’s not like we had a choice. We got in the car and she brought her daughter along for the ride who made us breakfast. Office Elder benefits coming in clutch. It was super fun though, I was just along for the ride until it was time to pay. We went to 4 different stores, ended up a zone over, spent a bunch of money and that was that. I am a professional appliance shopper, just in Brazil so it’s not gonna help me too much when I get back. Believe it or not, that was the third time this week that we had gone shopping. Let me just tell you, it is much faster when just my comp and I go but I won’t ever deny the car rides with Sister Andrade and the free snacks.
After buying things we came back to the office and finished buying some stuff online and got prepped for the ward party that night. There were so many people there, even wards from other stakes came. President’s daughter and son came. Their friends came. A few missionaries that served in the SPL mission came. Everyone was there. We hung out and chatted a bit with everyone and chilled. 10 out of 10 ward party. To make it even better we had some friends come!
Random
A Sister got on a bus and realized 20 minutes later that her comp didn’t get on with her… whoops
Our phone carrier was really testing my patience. I just wanted to spend more money on them but they really didn’t want my business.
I had interviews with President this week and we just laughed the whole interview. Half of my interview was about the well-being of the mission… normal. During my interview I scheduled a follow up interview that night so we could talk about the mission more ahaha. If the mission is doing good I am good. Our second meeting helped my sanity a lot. He also told me that the second we had our interview in Vista Verde he knew that I would be his financial secretary. He was really happy and he said he was happy with the work we are doing and that the mission is less of a headache because of the long hours my comp and I put in. That made me really happy.
On Thursday the office was without power all day. I decided to go through every old paper that the office had. We shredded over 1,000 pieces of paper. My filing cabinet is officially clean. To make it even better, right when I finished the power came back. We all jumped with joy. Even though it was 5pm there was work to be done.
Today (yes, pday) we received all new furnishing and appliances for a new house, 160 boxes of Books of Mormon. (More than 2 pallets full), more than 10 mattresses, and 7 bunk beds. On top of that we have suitcases of the people leaving and then we will have the suitcases of the missionaries that are getting here. The office is full to the brim.
Got a call on Sunday night to help with an emergency move. After helping out the member with that we got a call from the Bishop inviting us to the chapel to eat. Of course we had to run over and get some free food.
Got back on the editing grind making the mission weekly recap. Made me so happy.
Quotes
“Oi meninos lindos” [Random Sales Lady, 7/20/2026]
God's Hand
Being able to get the house open in time
Breakfast from Sister Andrade
A bunch of members brought friends to the ward activity
Being able to put out fires before they start
Angels protecting missionaries
Actually sleeping well for the first time in a while
Food and activities with the members
President coming into the office and giving me big hugs
Getting back into editing
Spiritual Thought
This week's quick thought comes from 1 Nephi 19:9 talking about all that Christ would suffer and why. It says “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.”
Imagine being at the lowest point of your life and people continued down. Now imagine enduring all that because of the love you have for those same people that are kicking you and hurting you. That is what Christ did for us. That is the way that we should work through our hardest moments. We should “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20) and a love for all men, knowing that He did that same thing. He endured by faith in His Father and love for all.
That is this week for ya. This next one is going to be wild and has already been. Please pray for my sanity haha. I love you all. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! Can’t wait to let you know how this next week goes! Email me!
Até,
Elder Urbano
