Here is a picture of one of the beautiful parks in Bucaramanga.
Here is Will on Christmas Eve with the tiny little Christmas tree I sent - I had to laugh. There are only two presents next to the tree. A sweet sister gave them each a bottle of cologne. At least they had one present to unwrap Christmas morning. He had opened our parcel earlier in the week.

February 23, 2009

Haaalo familia,
I don’t have tons of time to write but I will get in what I can. The package that you sent with the pictures and all has arrived. It was very, very cool and the cards as well. Thanks a ton. All the Elders loved looking at my pictures and they thought the High school was huuuge. Also they were very amazed to see me in my football uniform with all the pads and stuff. I gave everyone part of a big hunk to try and they thought they were very, very good but I doubt they will last long. It’s always exciting to get a package or a letter from home so thanks a lot again.
I know I say this every week but the time is passing incredibly fast. I now have 3 1/2 months in Colombia and another cambio has already come and gone. This week we have continued working with Diana (who is working out her problems) and we continue waiting for a response from the Mission President as to when she can get baptized.
Also on an unexciting note, we talked with the mom of Angelica, (who is very, very catholic) and had a great lesson and explained everything. At the end we "popped the question" and asked if she would allow her daughter to be baptized. Angelica told her how much she wanted to and we taught about Personal Agency and she flat out said “no”. She said being the Catholic mother that she is, she would consider it a disaster in the family to have someone leave their church. It’s frustrating because we have to respect what she says. We can only keep trying to work with them.
On a good note, we found some very, very good investigators this week. It was a very good testimony builder for me and an answer to prayers. To start the week we had some veeery slow days with very little success teaching anyone. We always pray to find the people that are waiting for our message but this night I prayed "harder" I guess you could say. The next day we found 4 different homes that wanted to listen and were very willing to have us come back, I really have realized in the mission over and over, that prayers are answered and it’s such a strength to your testimony each time one is.
Today has been a busy P day. We played some more bball and ping pong at the chapel. None of the chapels have gyms inside like we do but they have little courts outside.
As far as my camera, Hermana Camargo took it to get fixed and gave it back to me but it doesn’t really work right (but I didn’t say anything). I did have a Sony camera that dad sent me buuuut, Elder Araujo didn’t have a camera so I gave it to him for 2 ties. I know he deserves to have pictures of his mission and it’s so much easier for us to get one. So today we went to the mall and I bought a new Sony Camera.
Tonight we end the cambio and the Assistants will call all the Zone Leaders and tell us who is headed for another part. There is a very, very good chance that I could be headed out of here and to my second area. I love the people here and the area I have, but also it would be interesting to see other places and work in other parts of Colombia. But I really am not too worried about it. The best thing to do is just say "A donde me mandes ire señor, “I´ll go where you want me to go dear lord”. So my next letter could be from here or from Bogotá or who knows.
Also, we are very excited because 5 more gringos will arrive in a few days. They are going to love being missionaries in Colombia.
All is very well - I love it here and thanks for everything.

Hasta Monday,
Ciao, Elder B

P.S. Haha, I just wanted to write one last thing I forgot to say in my letter so I don’t forget, because this is kind of like a diary. I think today I arrived as a Colombian. When we went to buy my camera we went to one of the big malls they have here. But it is very different than a mall in Utah. They are packed with little family or personally owned stores of Colombians that sell stuff. We headed to the Electronics floor and I started bartering with the people. I went with Elder Madariaga who is very convincing and it was actually quite fun. I went around all the different stores seeing what their prices were and telling them what the other ones had offered (it’s the way business runs here). We ended up taking off 40 mil pesos of the price (20 bucks) They put the prices up because they know it’s going to happen but it was actually fun and something you don’t experience growing up in Evanston. Ha ok I know this is not a very spiritual thought but I didn’t want to forget.
Love you all, the church is true, bubbye