Novo Rodeo: O Rei Do Lazo

 

It all started with a stormy night in Natalio...

There was an Elder in my zone named Elder Melgarejo. He was pretty young in the mission. About 7 months or so. But he was a stud. Handsome, tall, hard working. Just an Elder who knew how to get it done. He grew up in a rougher part of central Asuncion. A city called Luque. It's notorious for its gang violence and "ladrones." Elder Melgarejo was serving in an area in my zone called "Natalio Diez." A small city with a lot of faithful members that sits on the side of the highway on the way to Ciudad del Este from Encarnacion. 

He was serving with an Elder named Elder Bariero. Elder Bariero was also from Luque but not nearly as "fachero" to say the least. He is tiny. 4 feet 2 inches max. He sort of just looks just like a little kid with the face of a man. I had heard a couple different things about him. 

He walks too fast

He isn't a good comp

He doesn't know how to plan

etc...

After we got done with our zone conference last transfer Elder Melgarejo left for Asuncion to head off to Chile. He was only serving here because he was reassigned due to Covid. A lot of Paraguayan missionaries have left lately. It reminds me of when I found out I was leaving from Reno. It's hard to believe that there was a time in my life where I was in my little flat in Reno saying, "yeah man, I think the Lord wants me to stay here."

"seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you..."

You just can't get comfortable.

I think its just hard to recognize in myself how much I've changed. How much more introspective I am. The things I like to do. The things that make me happy. The product has changed a lot since it first entered the production line. 

I sort of drew the short end of the stick when Elder Melgarejo left because Elder Bariero still had all of his stuff in Natalio. After zone conference while everyone was enjoying themselves and chatting it up for a couple of hours waiting for the busses to come, I had to get on a bus heading to Natalio to help him go and grab his stuff and bring it to Encarnacion Rama 5 so he could stay with them until the end of transfers. The bus was small and noisy (as usual). The radar said that there was a huge storm coming.

There are definitely times and places where reality feels altered:

schools with no people

open parking lots at sunrise

airports early in the morning

parks in the middle of the night

I can definitely add one more: collectivos heading to Natalio in the middle of a storm with nobody else but us and the lights turned on. 

The engine of the old Mercedes bus groaned as it made its way towards the Natalio terminal.  It was already late when we arrived. Then Elder Bariero told me that we needed some money to pay the rent on the pension out in Natalio. 

The streets were on the verge of flooding. I followed him through the maze of mud and streams that spawned on the route to their old house. I had a lot of time to talk to Elder Bariero. I learned a lot about him. He is definitely someone that has the desire to serve the Lord. He has had a wide range of companions and experiences. He is one of the few missionaries that has more time than me in the mission. I think at the end of the day he is just written off as an outlier. He asked me how I was doing and I told him I was fine. But then he told me I looked like I was stressed out...

First of all, I am always stressed out when I'm not sleeping after 10:30 at night or at least in my apartment. But I also was a little stressed out. I was feeling l like I wasn't being a good enough example for our zone. I tried my best to work hard and sort of "lift up" other missionaries along the way. But my way of doing things and my comps were very different.

Where I felt most stressed out and uncomfortable was quite possibly the most comfortable place close to our flat. It's a huge gourmet buffet that's really expensive (in guarany but it's like 9 dollars in US currency) called Novo Rodeo. It's run by a Brazilian owner which is why the name is in Portuguese. It means "new rodeo" President Faundez told us he was going to be in town for district conference and told us that he wanted to invite us to dinner with his wife. He asked us to choose what we were going to have that night.

It wasn't the first time I had walked in there but something just didn't feel right. It's not that the food wasn't good or there were a lot of people or anything like that. I just felt like I didn't belong there. my shirt was old, stained. I was sweating through my pants (as usual) so much that white streaks started to show up around where the knees bend. My hair was messy. I had a backpack that they told me I couldn't bring in. 

They sat us down and explained to us the open buffet and that they would be coming around with different cuts of meats for us to try. I could've filled myself up on the meat alone but I tried to take advantage of the opportunity and try a lot of things. I ended up filling myself up after one plate. The problem is that my body is so used to Paraguayan food that doesn't really fill u up so that when I eat actual food that has been prepared well it just fills me up too fast. 

I really didn't feel comfortable there. Prez and his wife and my companion were having a blast. I felt like it was too much for me. How can I eat this knowing that the elders and sisters in my zone are probably eating bread and water tonight. How can I eat this knowing that 99 percent of the people I teach have to rely on the government to get by. 

The mission changed me in this way: I feel WAY more comfortable eating my small piece of chicken with rice salad in a noisy "comedor" with flies buzzing around and sweat on my face. That to me is WAY more comfortable then: NOVO RODEO: O REI DO LAZO

When I had a chance to talk to President about it he said that it was a good thing that I felt that way. That I had changed a lot. But he also reminded me that it was something I needed to learn. I will eventually leave the mission and go back home. I can't just be a disciple of Jesus Christ in humble places. I have to represent him in every place.

This is all that happened towards the end of the last transfer.

PS

Some of the best times of my mission I've spent early mornings on p-day at the track. There is this really nice track that is sort of in the middle of nowhere in Encarnacion Rama 2. There is an Elder in the zone that was huge track runner and this other elder who did a lot of MMA stuff before the mission. Almost every week we wake up early on Mondays and go running.

I sort of got sick of running my senior year in high school but man I found my love for it again here. There is just something that feels so good running on a nice red track early in the morning. It's like the best part of my week. 

When i get home it'll be the best part of my day :)

Elder Johnson