During the 9 months we were together I had experiences with Aaron of which I am forever sworn to secrecy. Perhaps only he and I will know those details but some hints so that they last forever in our memories would include: Triple M, Sister Months and Irma Rosa.
We were both competitive and would find things to compete about while we did the work. We mostly found time for ping pong and soccer. Since he always beat me in Ping Pong I more fully enjoyed Soccer since we would be on the same team. He and I against the little kids in the street. Those were great times. We often got more competitive than we should have as missionaries but it was in our nature. One time he was going 100 miles an hour with the soccer ball weaving in and out of these little kids and he put his enormous foot on this little ball and the ball took him head over heels flying through the air in his shirt and tie. It was like the Giant from Jack’s bean stock had fallen from the sky. All the little kids, myself and everyone around us stopped and watched in complete silence. When Aaron, even though he was scraped up and in pain, starting laughing everyone burst into laughter. Looking back in my mind seeing him flying through the air was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen and pretty dang funny.
On another occasion, on our way back to our apartment at the end of a long day we got involved in a little game of soccer with some kids in the street. They were good but Aaron was better and I did my best to stay out of the way. Despite their best efforts we beat them but it took a lot of sweat to do it. After the game walking back to our apartment we were dripping in sweat when our mission president pulled up beside us. He had been waiting at our apartment to talk to us. He noticed the sweat and said, “Goodness. You guys sure are working hard on the missionary work!” We remained silent and just smiled! Haha.
Another time we were in a major crunch. We had too many missionary discussions scheduled that there was no way we could do them all. So we knew we had to split up. We couldn’t find any members that would do splits with us. We finally found one gentlemen but we needed two. We decided to pray. After an earnest prayer we noticed a gentleman a little way off. We recognized him. He was always completely drunk and homeless in the streets. He mentioned to us on a couple of occasions that he was a member. So we went up to him and asked him if he was a member? He said he was. We asked him if he had the priesthood. He said he did? Aaron and I decided who are we to judge?! So we told him he could go with us as long as he didn’t say anything which we figured was good idea since he wasn’t sober. He pretty much kept to his word and didn’t talk much but then while walking back to meet Aaron our mission president pulled up in his car to talk to me on the street. As soon as I saw our mission president I told our new found friend this would be a really good time not to speak. I talked to our mission president for about five minutes and luckily my new friend didn’t say a word. After that experience, Aaron and I figured we had better not use him for splits anymore until he sobered up.
Aaron and I were so completely devoted to working hard and making it happen that we often made rookie mistakes in our decisions like the one mentioned above. We were both results driven and committed to removing any obstacles that distracted us from the work. Another one of those occasions is another time we had scheduled too many discussions that we simply couldn’t do them all. We did that often and almost always the Lord would provide and members would come and we would split and all would work out. This time, however, it was not working out. We couldn’t find anyone and time was of the essence. We prayed earnestly. At that time we came upon a lady from the ward and her two 9 year old twin boys. Aaron and I looked at each other and jointly decided, “Well, the Lord has provided!” After we both had a 9 year old companion for longer than we should have, we both decided that 9 is too young!
When I learned Aaron was color blind I was thrilled with the possibilities. What better way to serve your companion than to play tricks on him – haha. He had one pair of red shoes and one pair of black shoes which most of us did as that is what was recommended in our missionary packet. You can probably guess what is going to happen now that I know he is color blind?! It seems like for several days he walked around with one red shoe one black shoe! Haha. Then he caught on. He was smart. He marked the shoes so he could tell which one went with which.
While attending BYU Aaron would be there sometimes in between his baseball schedule. I always knew when he was there as I would see cool little notes on my truck window. Back then we didn’t have cell phones or email so the way we communicated was by leaving notes for each other on our parked cars. He always left the funniest notes that made me laugh the rest of the day. It was a great honor for me that someone so important would take time to leave a note for someone as unimportant as me. What a hero.
During that time, he and I took a trip to Blanding, Utah – my home town. I introduced him to my family, the mountains that I love and friends throughout the town. We don’t get celebrities in Blanding too often so it was a great treat for me! Again that he would take an entire weekend out of his busy schedule to do that for me was a great blessing.
During our missions he gave me one of his ties. I still have that tie hanging in my closet as a prized possession. He also gave me one of his signed baseball cards that I have in a small box with my other little prized possessions.
Aaron and I were responsible to welcome in the new missionaries as they arrived. We would bring them all into our office and act extremely serious and then ask them, “What is the purpose of missionary work?” There is a common thing that all the missionaries quote when asked that question. We were prepared for that and as soon as they would say that we would, acting completely serious, yell and pound our fists on the table and say, “NOOO! IT IS TO BAPTIZE!!! BAPTIZE!!! BAPTIZE!!” After a few minutes of silence and dark stairs from the new missionaries we would start laughing. That always broke the ice and went over well with the new folks. Haha.
When leaving the mission Aaron promised me that when he became rich and famous he would hire me to clean his house, wash his cars, take care of his yard, etc. I will hold him to that promise.
Sometimes when we were knocking doors I would start the conversation by asking the person that answered the door who was better looking me or Aaron? The thing you have to love about Brazilians is they are always perfectly honest regardless of how it makes any one feel. Without hesitation they would all say, “Well of course this tall handsome blond man is much better looking! He is tall, handsome and strong!”
That eventually began to weigh on my self-esteem so I tried a new approach. I would knock on the door and tell the person at the door all about myself (i.e. missionary from the US, all about my family, etc., we even had pictures to show since Brazilians love pictures) and then I would introduce my companion by saying, “This is Elder Thatcher. He is tall.”
One time we were teaching a first discussion. We were both extremely tired and it was the last discussion of the day. We had worked hard all day and were ready to get this last one taught and return home for the night. The family we sat down to teach wouldn’t let us get a word in edge wise. They only wanted to scream hallelujahs and Amens after every word we said. There was no Spirit. We both looked at each other and by the look we both knew that each other was just too tired to go through this. So I quickly asked, “Can we offer you a pray before we leave?” With several Amens and a hallelujah they agreed. So I started to pray hoping that after the prayer we could call it a night and go home. As I started to pray the family starting yelling some Amens and Hallelujahs throughout my prayer. But then all of a sudden Aaron starting yelling right along with them. Hearing him yell Hallelujah and Amen throughout my prayer was perhaps one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed. I cried and sobbed through that entire pray and for the rest of the night. Not because I was feeling the Spirit but because I was trying as hard as I could not to laugh and so all I could do was cry from laughter inside. It was just too much.
One time we were teaching a gentleman. We asked him if he had read and prayed like we asked him to last time we were together. He said he had. Aaron and I looked at each other and knew he hadn’t. So Aaron asked him, “So did you like that part where Nephi slays the dragon?” The gentlemen said oh yes that was my favorite part. For some reason the way Aaron did that and it was so out of character for him to do something like that I just laughed and laughed about that for 9 months.
Walking down the street we would play all sorts of games with each other to help pass the time. One game we would play is when the other person wasn’t paying attention we would push him into a tree or wall or something. He was so much bigger than me so he was always really getting me. Finally I was determined to get him so when he least expected it I shoved him with everything I had. He really wasn’t ready so he flew really hard into a nearby tree. I felt so bad after that we quit the game – haha!
The funniest thing with Aaron maybe is the planner he carried around with him while on the mission. He took that thing everywhere he went. Well the thing is he would periodically drop it during the day. Half the time when he would drop it, he would go to catch it and in the process of trying to catch it, he would kick it. After a couple of times watching that, I would pay attention and immediately when he began to drop his planner I would yell, “Kick it!! Kick it!!” We would both laugh so hard we would cry!
My mother sent me a bunch of Hershey kisses in the mail. Aaron had this stuff that was kind of like oatmeal but much better. He would make us oatmeal and then we would put the Hershey kisses in the oatmeal. Man that was so good. We would sit there and eat that without saying a word to each other. We both loved that. We would savor every bite.
Sometimes the mission president would send us a third companion. We had so much fun with those companions. Stories that both he and I know that we just can’t talk about except for in private. But good times especially with Elder Nunez. We love that guy! One guy we got had just joined the church and then was on a mission. We decided to let him do one of the baptismal invitations. He was raw so it made us a little worried. After being completely nervous, he finally said something like the equivalent in English of something like, “Dude, would you totally do us a solid and follow the example of Jesus who is awesome and be baptized?” We both heard that and closed our eyes realizing what a major mistake that was to let him do the baptismal invitation when the family said “Yes!”. Hahaha. We learned that day the Spirit can confirm even the most slang tongue.
I love Aaron. There are so many stories we experienced together I could write on and on. Perhaps I should….
May God forever bless Aaron (and his family) and that we can all continue to learn from his example.
We were both competitive and would find things to compete about while we did the work. We mostly found time for ping pong and soccer. Since he always beat me in Ping Pong I more fully enjoyed Soccer since we would be on the same team. He and I against the little kids in the street. Those were great times. We often got more competitive than we should have as missionaries but it was in our nature. One time he was going 100 miles an hour with the soccer ball weaving in and out of these little kids and he put his enormous foot on this little ball and the ball took him head over heels flying through the air in his shirt and tie. It was like the Giant from Jack’s bean stock had fallen from the sky. All the little kids, myself and everyone around us stopped and watched in complete silence. When Aaron, even though he was scraped up and in pain, starting laughing everyone burst into laughter. Looking back in my mind seeing him flying through the air was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen and pretty dang funny.
On another occasion, on our way back to our apartment at the end of a long day we got involved in a little game of soccer with some kids in the street. They were good but Aaron was better and I did my best to stay out of the way. Despite their best efforts we beat them but it took a lot of sweat to do it. After the game walking back to our apartment we were dripping in sweat when our mission president pulled up beside us. He had been waiting at our apartment to talk to us. He noticed the sweat and said, “Goodness. You guys sure are working hard on the missionary work!” We remained silent and just smiled! Haha.
Another time we were in a major crunch. We had too many missionary discussions scheduled that there was no way we could do them all. So we knew we had to split up. We couldn’t find any members that would do splits with us. We finally found one gentlemen but we needed two. We decided to pray. After an earnest prayer we noticed a gentleman a little way off. We recognized him. He was always completely drunk and homeless in the streets. He mentioned to us on a couple of occasions that he was a member. So we went up to him and asked him if he was a member? He said he was. We asked him if he had the priesthood. He said he did? Aaron and I decided who are we to judge?! So we told him he could go with us as long as he didn’t say anything which we figured was good idea since he wasn’t sober. He pretty much kept to his word and didn’t talk much but then while walking back to meet Aaron our mission president pulled up in his car to talk to me on the street. As soon as I saw our mission president I told our new found friend this would be a really good time not to speak. I talked to our mission president for about five minutes and luckily my new friend didn’t say a word. After that experience, Aaron and I figured we had better not use him for splits anymore until he sobered up.
Aaron and I were so completely devoted to working hard and making it happen that we often made rookie mistakes in our decisions like the one mentioned above. We were both results driven and committed to removing any obstacles that distracted us from the work. Another one of those occasions is another time we had scheduled too many discussions that we simply couldn’t do them all. We did that often and almost always the Lord would provide and members would come and we would split and all would work out. This time, however, it was not working out. We couldn’t find anyone and time was of the essence. We prayed earnestly. At that time we came upon a lady from the ward and her two 9 year old twin boys. Aaron and I looked at each other and jointly decided, “Well, the Lord has provided!” After we both had a 9 year old companion for longer than we should have, we both decided that 9 is too young!
When I learned Aaron was color blind I was thrilled with the possibilities. What better way to serve your companion than to play tricks on him – haha. He had one pair of red shoes and one pair of black shoes which most of us did as that is what was recommended in our missionary packet. You can probably guess what is going to happen now that I know he is color blind?! It seems like for several days he walked around with one red shoe one black shoe! Haha. Then he caught on. He was smart. He marked the shoes so he could tell which one went with which.
While attending BYU Aaron would be there sometimes in between his baseball schedule. I always knew when he was there as I would see cool little notes on my truck window. Back then we didn’t have cell phones or email so the way we communicated was by leaving notes for each other on our parked cars. He always left the funniest notes that made me laugh the rest of the day. It was a great honor for me that someone so important would take time to leave a note for someone as unimportant as me. What a hero.
During that time, he and I took a trip to Blanding, Utah – my home town. I introduced him to my family, the mountains that I love and friends throughout the town. We don’t get celebrities in Blanding too often so it was a great treat for me! Again that he would take an entire weekend out of his busy schedule to do that for me was a great blessing.
During our missions he gave me one of his ties. I still have that tie hanging in my closet as a prized possession. He also gave me one of his signed baseball cards that I have in a small box with my other little prized possessions.
Aaron and I were responsible to welcome in the new missionaries as they arrived. We would bring them all into our office and act extremely serious and then ask them, “What is the purpose of missionary work?” There is a common thing that all the missionaries quote when asked that question. We were prepared for that and as soon as they would say that we would, acting completely serious, yell and pound our fists on the table and say, “NOOO! IT IS TO BAPTIZE!!! BAPTIZE!!! BAPTIZE!!” After a few minutes of silence and dark stairs from the new missionaries we would start laughing. That always broke the ice and went over well with the new folks. Haha.
When leaving the mission Aaron promised me that when he became rich and famous he would hire me to clean his house, wash his cars, take care of his yard, etc. I will hold him to that promise.
Sometimes when we were knocking doors I would start the conversation by asking the person that answered the door who was better looking me or Aaron? The thing you have to love about Brazilians is they are always perfectly honest regardless of how it makes any one feel. Without hesitation they would all say, “Well of course this tall handsome blond man is much better looking! He is tall, handsome and strong!”
That eventually began to weigh on my self-esteem so I tried a new approach. I would knock on the door and tell the person at the door all about myself (i.e. missionary from the US, all about my family, etc., we even had pictures to show since Brazilians love pictures) and then I would introduce my companion by saying, “This is Elder Thatcher. He is tall.”
One time we were teaching a first discussion. We were both extremely tired and it was the last discussion of the day. We had worked hard all day and were ready to get this last one taught and return home for the night. The family we sat down to teach wouldn’t let us get a word in edge wise. They only wanted to scream hallelujahs and Amens after every word we said. There was no Spirit. We both looked at each other and by the look we both knew that each other was just too tired to go through this. So I quickly asked, “Can we offer you a pray before we leave?” With several Amens and a hallelujah they agreed. So I started to pray hoping that after the prayer we could call it a night and go home. As I started to pray the family starting yelling some Amens and Hallelujahs throughout my prayer. But then all of a sudden Aaron starting yelling right along with them. Hearing him yell Hallelujah and Amen throughout my prayer was perhaps one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed. I cried and sobbed through that entire pray and for the rest of the night. Not because I was feeling the Spirit but because I was trying as hard as I could not to laugh and so all I could do was cry from laughter inside. It was just too much.
One time we were teaching a gentleman. We asked him if he had read and prayed like we asked him to last time we were together. He said he had. Aaron and I looked at each other and knew he hadn’t. So Aaron asked him, “So did you like that part where Nephi slays the dragon?” The gentlemen said oh yes that was my favorite part. For some reason the way Aaron did that and it was so out of character for him to do something like that I just laughed and laughed about that for 9 months.
Walking down the street we would play all sorts of games with each other to help pass the time. One game we would play is when the other person wasn’t paying attention we would push him into a tree or wall or something. He was so much bigger than me so he was always really getting me. Finally I was determined to get him so when he least expected it I shoved him with everything I had. He really wasn’t ready so he flew really hard into a nearby tree. I felt so bad after that we quit the game – haha!
The funniest thing with Aaron maybe is the planner he carried around with him while on the mission. He took that thing everywhere he went. Well the thing is he would periodically drop it during the day. Half the time when he would drop it, he would go to catch it and in the process of trying to catch it, he would kick it. After a couple of times watching that, I would pay attention and immediately when he began to drop his planner I would yell, “Kick it!! Kick it!!” We would both laugh so hard we would cry!
My mother sent me a bunch of Hershey kisses in the mail. Aaron had this stuff that was kind of like oatmeal but much better. He would make us oatmeal and then we would put the Hershey kisses in the oatmeal. Man that was so good. We would sit there and eat that without saying a word to each other. We both loved that. We would savor every bite.
Sometimes the mission president would send us a third companion. We had so much fun with those companions. Stories that both he and I know that we just can’t talk about except for in private. But good times especially with Elder Nunez. We love that guy! One guy we got had just joined the church and then was on a mission. We decided to let him do one of the baptismal invitations. He was raw so it made us a little worried. After being completely nervous, he finally said something like the equivalent in English of something like, “Dude, would you totally do us a solid and follow the example of Jesus who is awesome and be baptized?” We both heard that and closed our eyes realizing what a major mistake that was to let him do the baptismal invitation when the family said “Yes!”. Hahaha. We learned that day the Spirit can confirm even the most slang tongue.
I love Aaron. There are so many stories we experienced together I could write on and on. Perhaps I should….
May God forever bless Aaron (and his family) and that we can all continue to learn from his example.
Johnny,
ReplyDeleteThis was so fun to read. We all needed to laugh and have the load lightened and this brought laughter and fun to all of us. These are stories that we had never heard and they are now a treasure. It is so wonderful that you would write them down and share. We would love more.
Kathy Thatcher (Aaron's mom}