Intercambio

October 14, 2013

What`s up! This week has been pretty crazy! On Tuesday I had an intercambio with the zone leaders so I went into Cartagena to work. Within that intercambio, I had another with Elder Fitzgerald (I lived with him in Alpes, my first house) because there was a baptismal interview. It was really fun to go out and work with him and see how much we have progressed with the language and teaching. 

That day it also rained a lot so it was super humid and I sweat a lot :( We had a group planning sesh on Thursday so we all met up. While we were there, the assistant, Elder Schwab, arrived. He is now working in my old area of Modelo and told me that Ana and Luisa got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I`m sooo happy! Also Adriana and Laura are getting ready to be baptized too!!! Super awesome news!! 

Also on Friday we had interviews with the president and we had to go to the church in Los Alpes. As always the interviews were running late, but after we finished Elder Schwab told us the they were heading out to Turbaco (my areaa) and could probably take us. SO ...we got to go in the president`s car. It was fantastic! I felt like I was back home for a brief moment with the AC. 

 Even more crazy was when we arrived in Turbaco because as we were driving down the streets everyone started screaming, freaking out, and running in the streets....The soccer game against Chile had just ended in a tie. That means that Colombia is going to World Cup!! So literally everyone went insane, got on motorcycles and paraded through the city screaming, honking horns, and making a lot of noise. 

We were going to leave to work, but then the power went out.... in all of Turbaco. Which meant that everyone was even crazier, so we hurried back to the house to wait out the night. Pretty nuts! I took a video and I`ll try to send it to you next week. 

That`s it for this week, we didn`t have that great of lessons with people. We could never find anyone in their houses, so we contacted a lot a lot. 

I love you all! Abrazos y besos!

Futbol - Finally!

October 7, 2013

Hey what´s up! This week has been kinda slow, especially with conference. We had arranged for 5 people come and watch Conference, but we just waited there and no one came....bummer...but the conference was great Saturday! We didn´t have any problems with the connection. I really liked the talk from Elder Soares, and the others that spoke about self improvement / Auto discipline. 

Sunday, however was a little different. Literally right when the conference was about to begin, the laptop died. Someone didn´t connect the charger and a bunch of people started running to get it set up again. Another 20 minutes later the laptop died again, then the connection kept dropping.  We weren't able to hear an entire talk, which was a huge bummer. 

Flooded streets

That is crazy and awesome that Kurt Crandall got his mission call here!! That´s so sweet! I can´t wait to see him! 

This week we had a really good lesson with Luicel. She´s great! We were talking about the Book of Mormon and how she had felt about it. She was telling us that she would feel kinda stressed, but would open up the Book of Mormon and find something that was just ´meant for her,´ then she would pray and ask God for help. It was so awesome to hear her tell us about that. Also, in that lesson we had a member with us (new convert) and they were able to talk more to Luicel and share about the whole conversion process! 

Group pic after playing soccer!!!! Left to right top: Elder Carmona, Anderson, Fitzgerald, Centon, Herrick, Anderson. Bottom: Escobar, Mañuico, Gallardo, Me

This week we also had the best zone conference ever! RULE CHANGES!!!!! We can now leave with the cell phones, so we don´t have to spend money making calls. We can now write at the same time, so we don´t have to waist soo much time at the internet! 

Me once we finally got on the bus after all the rain and taxi

AND... WE CAN PLAY SOCCER!!!!! For now it is only with the zone leaders... but it´s awesome!! I´m sooo pumped to play! Those changes are super epic here and everyone is extremely happy. Today we played soccer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Soooooo awesome!!! Just a great time! Even though I am out of shape, I loved it. Elder Mañuico and I had the most beautiful combo goal. It needs to be on Sports Center. 

Cool Estatue here

It was all great until the ball popped. We had to borrow one from some kids that were watching us. Then it started to rain super hard so we had to leave and no one wanted to take us in their taxi because we were soaking wet. After a long time finally someone had mercy and let us in, but it was almost impossible to drive because all the streets were super flooded. 

Me eating chicken at a restaurant, Cali Brasas

All in all it was a fantastic day! My legs are just shot right now and I´m pretty sure I won´t be able to walk tomorrow, but playing SOCCER was amazing!! 

So that´s it for this week! Love you all! Abrazos y besos!

Eloisa!

September 30, 2013

Hey! How`s it going! This week has been pretty great! Actually it didn't start out too well because last Monday we ate chicken for lunch and when we left to start working, I wasn`t feeling very well. We came back home and I threw up a lot.  But other than that the week was great! 



We had an intercambio on Tuesday and I got to know the area of Turbaco a little bit better. The only problem was that I had to sleep in Elder Anderson`s bed, which is super small, so sleeping was awful. It has also been raining a lot here. A lot, a lot, like the heavens opening up and bringing the rain kind of rain. One nice thing with the rain is that the temp drops so it`s not so terribly hot. 


We had an awesome experience with one of our investigators, Eloisa. She has been kinda iffy on whether she was going to get baptized on Saturday. We talked with her for quite a while on Friday. We all met at the church for the lesson so we went all out. We wore suits, we had the bishop there, the zone leaders and the baptismal font right next to us. But even after all of that she still wouldn`t commit. We were a little frustrated because she seemed really ready to be baptized. 

Every companionship had a baptism

Later in the afternoon we stopped by Eloisa's house to talk with her a little bit more. After talking a while, we ended with the decision that she was going attend to a baptism that night (Friday), watch it, and depending on what happened and how she felt she would tell us if she was going to be baptized on Saturday. So we went, and Eloisa was there also. 


 During the service she didn`t look super amazed, but after it ended we went to ask her how she was feeling. To our surprise she just asked us what time the baptismal service was Saturday and what did she need to bring for her baptism!! I just started geeking out...we were all soo happy! 

Elder Anderson and I

Saturday, Eloisa and two other investigators (from the other missionaries) were baptized! Eloisa chose me to baptize her. That was another great experience to be in the water again. It was just amazing to see how God answered her and that she was able to make the decision to be baptized! I`m so happy that I was able to be part of the process too. 

Also, the zone has been doing great and we completed our goal for baptisms! We`re going to be having a zone pday... Which means we might be playing soccer!!! Finally! We also completed our district goal, so we are going to watch a Disney movie! Dance Dance Dance Awe$ome! 

This week has been pretty exciting, a lot of baptisms and a lot of work. Today(p-day)  we went to Cartagena, McDonalds and a little mall in the Castellana (where I always went when I was in Alpes). We just walked around, printed off pictures, and chilled. It was nice to just relax. This week we should be having zone conference so I will hopefully be getting mail. 

I`m also getting excited for General Conference! That`s about it for this week! Thanks for all the support! Love you all! 

Abrazos y besos!