Merry Christmas

Will said that this picture was taken from a large store downtown in Bucaramanga. It looks like it could have been taken in SLC except for the palm trees and all the little cars parked backwards.



December 22, 2008

Hola and Feliz Navidad,
All is very well here. I’m going to try and send some pictures but it takes forever to download them on the computer I work on so I may not have as much time to write to you. We have lost a few investigators that we thought were going to progress, but we have found some others that are very interested so it is still going well.

This week we had Zone Conference, so the Mission President came and talked to us. We had a lunch with him. It was only the third time I have seen him. He was really pleased with how well our Spanish is coming along, (Elder Lee and I). I have really noticed the improvements. I can understand basically everything that is said in church and with the other missionaries. Presidente Camargo is very friendly and has a good sense of humor. It was good to talk to him and see all the other Elders.

Last night was the Ward Christmas party so we went to that. They had 6 of us sing a few hymns for it. It was basically the same as one of our Ward parties would be, just with a smaller ward. We have kind of a little run down chapel so they are going to tear it down starting tomorrow and rebuild a new one. It’s going to make things a little difficult because we are going to have to take people to another chapel farther away but I think it will be just fine.

This morning we got up at 5:30 and took a couple named Noira and Nelson to finish their papers so they can get married and baptized this week on Saturday. The other members of Noiras family are members but they had this baby and they have been living in union libre for over a year now. She has always wanted to get baptized but the missionaries never could get them to get married. So I am very happy that we were able to help them. They will be married this Saturday at noon and baptized Saturday night so I’m going to get to participate in some more baptisms :)

Also, we found a young man named Marlon who is very interested and immediately seemed to believe the Book of Mormon. Hopefully things will work out well with him.

Today is of course our Prep Day. We took Noira and Nelson into the centro (downtown) to get their papers done. We then went and looked around at a few of the stores etc. We got a few good pictures. I also took out some money with my debit card. It’s pretty amazing that I can go into an atm here and take money out of a bank account from Evanston and get pesos.

Ha, it’s very different to be getting so close to Christmas when it is so hot. They had Frank Sinatra singing "I’ll be home for Christmas" playing in the mall and it really reminded me of home, but I am so glad to be here in Colombia.

Usually the missionaries don’t go out on the 24th or 25th but at Zone Conference,the Presidente said that we are going to work as normal. He said that not many may want to listen to anything on those two holidays, so if members invite us, we can go to their homes and spend a little time and talk with them. We have already been invited to 3 or 4 houses so part of my Christmas will be spent in member’s homes.

I got another package the other day. Thanks a ton for everything. It was nice to have some ramen noodles for the first time in forever. I know the little kids will love all the little toys you sent.

As far as the call, I think tomorrow would be the best day to do it. There are little places here where you can go to call, so I am thinking tomorrow at 8 pm my time I can call and then we can head to the apartment right after. That would make it 6 o’clock there.

A lot of the Elders here have little albums of their families and friends etc. Everyone asks to see my family so could you send maybe a little album with pics of my family, friends, and Evanston or whatever.

Ha, sorry my writing is all over the place but we’ve been up since 5:30. Well I’m not sure what more to say but thanks a ton for everything again. As of now, the plan is to call at 8 here or 6 there tomorrow night.

Much love to all of you and Feliz Navidad!