Called the Police

Hola familia,
This week has been intense. As you know we had transfers and lots of them in the mission. Adding to that we received news that Elder Marcus Nash, Area President and from the First Quorum of the 70 is going to take a tour of our mission this week. So we will have had two very very crazy weeks.

Speaking of the week that is now over, it was very busy. Monday night when the new American missionaries got here it was fun to see them get here in a group almost exactly the same as mine and how they reacted etc. to Colombia. We got them shipped off to the different houses they were to stay in for the night and even had one come to our house. Elder Corro was with us until Tuesday so we had his "son" stay the night with us but didn’t tell him the ex assistant was his comp. until it was time for them to go to their new area which was fun.

The next day the 4 sister missionaries got here so we spent the day having a lunch with them and running them around doing paperwork and legal stuff. They all had millions of questions for me about how long it takes to learn Spanish and what the country is like and what the people do etc. It reminded me a ton of when I first got here so I could relate with all of it and tried to help them out. It also helps that my now "official" comp, Elder Gagliardi speaks perfect English so he could also talk to them.

Wednesday we spent most of the day organizing everything with the last meeting and lunch and interviews of the missionaries that were going home. One of them had his family move here to Bogotá so they came and had dinner at the mission home and then just took him with them.

Thursday we spent most the day in the airport. We had to get all the ones going home sent off. While all this was happening we got to prepare for the week we are now in, in which Elder Nash will go on a tour and do 4 zone conferences in the mission. At the same time we prepared and organized the Zone Leader’s Council which was Friday morning so you could say it was a stressful week. Like I predicted lots of getting up early and staying up late but it’s necessary to make sure everything that needs to be done gets done.

Friday after the Zone Leader’s Council, we ran to the airport and barely caught our flight to Bucaramanga. Today was Stake Conference in the Bucaramanga Terrazas stake and Elder Nash spoke. It was awesome today because my first ward (Real de Minas) is in this stake so afterwards a bunch of members from the ward came up all excited to talk to me and see what I was doing there etc. It really is cool how much you grow to love the people you work with and that help you and it was just an awesome feeling to see all of them. I even got to talk to 5 of our converts that were there and it looks like they are faithful in the church which was also great to see.
As far as this week, Elder Nash will be doing 4 big Zone Conferences, one tomorrow here in Bucaramanga, 2 in Bogotá and 1 in Duitama. We have spent the last few days here preparing every last detail for them and getting everything ready. Tomorrow will be the biggest because everyone from Cucuta, Bucaramanga, Barranca and San Gil will travel in (over 60 missionaries) so we have had to make hotel reservations and plan out where everyone will stay etc. Elder Nash has asked the assistants to conduct the meetings so I am going to conduct tomorrow and we will rotate every other one. Also after each conference he wants to have a 40 minute interview with the Zone Leaders and one of the days he is going to have personal interviews with me and my comp which should be very cool.

Ha I really have felt more pressure I guess you could say now being the "old" assistant. Whereas before if I didn’t know about something I could ask Elder Corro, now I’m the one being asked. So it’s been a good opportunity to learn about leadership. There have been plenty of cases where someone has a question that goes up the line until it gets to me and I have had to just make decisions.
For example last night the Zone Leaders we were staying with got a call from the sister missionaries saying that they were in their bed room and they had heard the apartment door open and someone was in their apartment walking around! They asked me what we should do. It was 3:30 A.M. and there really wasn’t time to call President Hacking first. We quickly called public info. on one phone to get the apartment complex’s number to send security. On the other phone we called the cops. They got there quickly and by the time they arrived, whoever was in their apartment had ran away. By the time we could call President Hacking, it was all over. There is stuff that has nothing to do with finding investigators or teaching or baptizing but you’ve got to be ready for as well.

But like I said, this week is going to be another crazy one getting the mission ready for the conferences etc. It is challenging and exciting to have so much to do and I am loving my mission and all the wonderful experiences.

You’re all in my prayers and I am loving what I am doing. It’s hard to believe but the next time I write I will be half way thru with my mission. It’s been quite a year for sure. But thanks for everything, much love and I will talk to ya next week. Bubye, Love Elder B