Soccer, Pancakes & Cheap Marriages

January 27, 2014

Well this week has been pretty good. We talked with Carmen and Osvaldo and they said that they want to get married this week, so we´ll be working hard to help them get married. We found a guy in Cartagena that can marry people fast and cheap so we´re trying to get everything in order with that.
 We´ve also been contacting a lot, trying to find some new people to teach. We´ve found a couple of families and are really excited to teach them this week. This week has been super hot so we try to use that to help us get into the houses. We figure if we look like we´re dying someone will give us a chair so that we can sit down and rest. 

Typical Breakfast

Things are going great with my new comp (Elder Ariza) with studying, teaching, and contacting. It´s fun to train. 

On Friday we had interviews with the president and as always they were running late. We lost a lot of time that day, but the interview was good - Well we mostly just talked about how my comp was doing and he always asks how my best convert is (aka myself). President tells me that he has a lot of confidence in me so that makes me feel really good. We talk about the family sometimes, studies...a little bit of everything.  We also talked more about the end of the mission more than anything this time. I also mentioned Kurt too, so hopefully we can be in the same district or zone. 

This morning we played soccer again with some young men and the first consejero (still can´t spell that), it was really fun. I miss playing soccer a lot! :(. 

Fútbol Gang

Hey,  I´m kinda realizing that my letters are getting shorter, so this next week I´ll write down everything that has been happening so that my letters are more interesting. 

Apartment "Art"

Today during p-day we didn´t do much.We just hit up the streets of Turbaco seeing what it has to offer. I bought some little Dragon balls figures for a buck so that was a complete score.  I also bought this artwork for our apartment.  Each poster was 50 cents! I think that next Monday we´re going to do a big district pday and go to the Popa (fingers crossed for that). 

More "Art"

Hey! I love you all!                                                         Abrazos y besos!

Call Me Papi!! New Companion

January 20, 2014

My New Son - Elder Ariza from Bogota, Colombia

What is up everyone?! This week has been pretty great. It started Monday night when I called to verify with the zone leaders and they told me that I needed to go to Barranquilla on Tuesday because I needed to pick up my new comp to train! 

We left in the morning and I got in a van crammed in the back seat with Elder Anderson (Arizona) and Elder White. We arrived in Barranquilla, ate lunch, listened to the assistants and the president, then we got our new companions. 

How we Roll!

My new comp is Elder Ariza. He is from Bogota and is 18 years old. We´ve only had a few days together, but it´s been good working with him. I´m happy to be training and glad that he wants to work. 

After we left Barranquilla we arrived in Cartagena late so we had to sleep on the floor of some other missionaries, then leave early in the morning Wednesday to get back to Turbaco. I don´t like sleeping on floors. The rest of the week we've  been contacting, introducing Elder Ariza to the members and investigators. 

This week we´ve also been working a lot with Carmen and Osvaldo so that they can get married. Turns out that she needs to go get a copy of her divorce paper. She´s going to get that today so they can get married.  Osvaldo´s son just came to live with them so now we´re teaching him too. Hopefully everything works out well so that we can baptize the rest of the family! 

Soccer with some members and investigators

This morning we went to the church and played soccer with some young men and investigators. That was super fun, but I´m really tired. I haven´t done that much running for a while. 

Today for p-day, we´re not going to do much. My comp knows how to cook so he wants to cook lunch... I´m glad he likes to cook because I´m getting tired of fried / scrambled eggs and pancakes.  That´s kinda sums it up for this past week. 

I love you soo much! Shout out to Jon Lemaire for getting baptized! Abrazos y Besos!

Working for a Living!

January 13, 2014

Hey everyone! This week has been pretty good! We´ve been working hard to find new people to teach and work more with the members. Yesterday we had 4 investigators that came to church and two of them were new this week so we´re really happy with that. 

We have bikes now?? Just kidding

We have also been working a lot with Carmen (Investigator) and Osvaldo (Less Active) so that they can get married and Carmen can be baptized. They have already sent their papers to get processed in the system, now they just have to wait and see how much it costs for the marriage. They should find out this week so we are anxious to get things going with them. 

Elder Gallardo, Otteson, Me, Centon in a little Moto car

This week I also had two baptismal interviews, they both went really well, and the missionaries are working hard to help them get baptized. Also, yesterday we had a Rescue for a ward in Cartagena. Basically it was visiting less active members so that they can come back to church. It went pretty well we were able to talk to a young man and another´s dad about going to church. 

SIMBA!!! Carlos´ dog!

Today for pday we had a service project. We helped Carlos, an investigator of the elders, move to his new house which is super sweet. So we were moving stuff all afternoon, but it was fun working with the other missionaries. After they bought us lunch so that was awesome :) . 

Elder Gallardo, I, and some dude driving the truck

Tomorrow we will receive transfers, I am thinking that my comp will be leaving because he has about 7 months here, so we´ll see what happens. That is kind of it for this week. I love you all! Abrazos y besos!

Say Hello, to my Little Friend!

Cat Rescue!

Little Mufasa.

Feliz Año Nuevo!

January 7, 2014

What is up everyone?? Happy New year!! I can´t believe it´s 2014 already! Makes me sad because it means my mission is coming to an end this year.  :( 

Elder Anderson with his Bat Friend.

This week has been pretty interesting. There has been something going on called La Corraleja, basically bull fighting in the wooden stadium, and anyone can go inside with the bulls. Almost everyone in Turbaco goes there to watch and party, so it has been a little difficult to find people in their houses. 

Mr. Bat

We have had some good lessons, especially with Carmen. We´ve been working hard with her so that she can get married. This week she put in the papers to be  processed so that they (she and Osvaldo (soon to

Vampire??

be husband) can get married. Which means that Carmen and her son can get baptized! Super pumped for that.  Also, all three of them came to church yesterday. 

We´re also working with some other people  trying to have them come to church, but it´s kinda hard with holidays and what not. We are being persistent! 

Today we went to a less active member's house for lunch. He made us fried fish, patacones, and of course rice. It was really good. I love the fish here. Then after lunch we just bought some stuff at the store, cut our hair and chilled in the house. 

It´s a festival today so there aren´t a lot of places open and there isn´t much to do. That is pretty much it for this week. Really slow with all the parties and stuff like that. 

Thanks for all the support. I love you all!
Abrazos y besos

The Week After La Navidad & Skyping

December 30, 2013

Hey! How´s it going? This week,to be honest, has been kinda slow. A lot of people have been out of town for vacations and there have been a lot of parties going on here. 

The festival of horses was on the 24th, then on the 25th and 26th. Then from the 27th to the 1st there is a festival of Toros. So there is a lot going on here in Turbaco which has made it a little tricky to visit people. 

Christmas was pretty good. I waited until the 25th to open up the package... so mom you can be proud of me for that! 

This week we´ve been working a lot with Carmen. She´s super awesome! Carmen reads everything that we give her and she´s already finishing Alma in the Book of Mormon. She also has a son that is 8 years old so we talked with Carmen and him about everything and now they are both getting ready to be baptized on the 18th this month! 

This week I also had to do a baptismal interview for an investigator that the sister missionaries are working with. The investigator wanted me to baptize her and on Saturday I had the privilege to baptize her. 

Christmas!

Today for p-day, we didn´t do much. Luisel made us lunch and after we ate we came back home.  I watched Ephraim´s Rescue, sweet movie. That´s kinda it for this week, pretty slow with a the stuff going on in the city, but I´m excited for the new year! 

I love you all! Abrazos y besos!

Almost La Navidad

December 23, 2013

Multi Zone Christmas activity

Hey! What´s up? This week has been pretty good. 

Crepes and Waffles with President Searle

Tuesday we had our Christmas activity with the mission president. We went into Cartagena to a church called La Pie de la Popa. We started out by watching the Incredibles!!! And yes, it was incredible! I miss watching movies....  it was great, I really like that movie. 

After the movie we walked over to Caribe Plaza, a mall close by, and ate at Crepes and Waffles. It´s funny because whenever I think of a restaurant that sells waffles, I think of the Waffle House back home (so not very good quality), but here it´s super fancy. I ate a mexican chicken crepe... Super awesome! 

After eating we went back to the chapel, listened to some messages, sung some songs, and came back to Turbaco at 7:30. Super Fun Day. The rest of the week we spent contacting and teaching and trying to find those chosen ones of God. 

The only problem is that now the parties are starting. The other day we couldn´t even cross a street to get to our area because there was a huge parade going through town. Yesterday no one came to church so that was a bummer. We tried passing by people´s houses to see why they weren't at church, but many weren´t home. 

Christmas for the district

Today for pday we watched ICE AGE 4!!! It was great! I kept thinking of dad saying ´Sid the sloth´.   Also I got the package today! Elder Bastos hooked me up and sent it here so now I have your presents and don´t worry mom, I didn´t open anything yet. I´m going to wait until the 25th. 

This week is going to be a little slow as far as missionary work because alot of people go out of town and what not. Also,  there is a big wooden stadium that they put up to have bull fights so it´ll be interesting to see what happens there.  I´m really looking forward to the Skype call! Thursday! 

I love you all so much! Feliz Navidad! Abrazos y Besos!

Baptismal Interviews & Getting Ready to Skype

December 16, 2013

How´s it going?? 

This week has been pretty good. Nothing much really happened, just a lot of walking looking for some less active members that live super far away. Sometimes I hate the area because of the hills and distance. We´ve been working hard to find new people to teach so we´ve been contacting a lot. 

This week I also had 2 baptismal interviews. It was kinda weird because I was alone and didn´t have my comp there next to me, but the interviews went well. One of them, German, is going to be baptized this Saturday. 

Mission Wallet

Yesterday we had to go to Cartagena for a Rescue... basically it´s  a visit to less active members in the ward. We totally lucked out and scored a ride there with a member in our ward so we went in an air-conditioned car :) . Later, we left with a member from the ward that knew the area, and he also had a car so we lucked out there too! 

Today we´re not going to be doing much because tomorrow we have a Christmas activity with the president so we´ll have to spend some $$ to travel there. It should be super fun. Also, we found out that now we can Skype! You guys need to tell me the day and the hour and I´ll be here for it!! (Well basically any day but the 25th, no internet is open that day.) 

I can´t wait to talk to you guys! Sorry this letter is short... we didn´t have much going on. I promise that next week will be better. 

I love you all! Abrazos y besos!