12/15/2019 -- this was probably the worst week of my entire mission

12/15
I had a really hard time updating this week. There just didn’t feel like any point, there was NOTHING that HAPPENED!

I’ll be honest, this was probably the worst week of my entire mission, we taught one lesson, ONE!

It’s not like some previous weeks we’ve had like this where we had something going on that kept us busy elsewhere, it wasn’t like we weren’t proselyting or were sick, we just didn’t get to see anyone after Tuesday!

EVERYONE (except 1) has gone to their “Ushago” (hometown) for the Holidays, which means that the teaching pool of Elder Benson and Elder Tolbert is GONE. SOOOOO we’ve been contacting A LOT this week, but NOTHING has come of it!

We had this one lady agree to meet us, so we set an appointment and she calls us fifteen minutes before the time to say that she was there, well, we weren’t expecting her to come on time (nobody does), so we were over half an hour away when we got the call.

We immediately headed to the appointment to find that this lady had left and she refused to talk to us when she called. Oh, she’d pick up, but she wouldn’t talk, just wasting our credit.

Since phones here are all pre-pay, essentially this lady was making us waste money for no reason, only a few people do this, but when it happens there is nothing you can do but move on. I’ve seen this happen to Elder Clegg a few times, and he’s still unable to speak to these people.

Now, the biggest frustration I have here is the DOUBLE STANDARD. If these people are THREE FLIPPING HOURS LATE they EXPECT us to still be there! BUT! IF we’re so much as a minute late they give us a metaphorical middle finger and –like this lady- get their petty revenge. IT doesn’t happen a lot because –like I said- 99% of people are late to appointments. 0.99% are on time and 0.01% are early – if even that. IT grinds my gears to have to deal with this and I’m sorry that this isn’t a positive update, but I’m not in the mood to be positive, I’m still dealing with the crushing frustration that comes with not being able to work.

The only consolation this week is that I got Pizza Hut when my comp and I went to Karen to visit the Dentist for a follow up visit. The best part? IT WAS REAL PIZZA!!!! Admittedly, it tasted slightly off because the cheese is made from cows here, but it was good enough for me, it was real pizza!

I got a large pepperoni pizza and my comp got one call the “Carnivore” which was a bit disappointing since they had about 4 different meats listed, but only 2 on the pizza. Elder Tolbert and I swapped a slice and I thought it was alright, they don’t skimp on toppings like Pizza Inn does, but considering it’s $9.90 a pizza, they better not.

The price back home is expensive, but expected. Here? It’s something only for the RICH $$$$$$$.

I snagged the phone number for the place and while I don’t think they deliver this far, I can pray that one day I’ll be transferred closer, but at the same time I don’t want to be closer since that means I’ll be in N’gong, and Elder Tolbert will cheerfully tell me that he was lucky to teach 3 or 4 appointments a Transfer in that area. No thank you.