Our daughter Angie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on September 23. She seems to be a very healthy and content baby. Her daddy, Ben has started chemotherapy for stage 4 Lymphoma. He will continue every other week for 6 courses and then 4 times a year for 2 years after that. We keep praying that everything will be okay. I'm here in Kansas helping out and it has been a busy week.
September 28, 2009
hoooola familia,
All is well here in Bogota. We had another busy transfer week but it was much smoother and simpler than the last one. Almost everything went well. We had the arrival of the new missionaries (from Peru and Bolivia) with the orientation we give, their welcome meal and then shipping them off to their areas. We had the farewells for the "trunkies" so we had to make sure they got into Bogotá, had their goodbye meeting and dinner and then coordinated everything for them to get to the airport and head home.
The only problem we had was a few missionaries and tardiness. There was a group of 4 that had to go home on a night flight so they had the day free but they knew they were to be in the office at 5 P.M. to get to the airport on time. Two of them were there but the other two were not so we had to leave without them. That got back to the office at 6:15 P.M. and called me asking what they should do... The only thing they could do was to take a taxi to the airport as fast as possible. Unfortunately, they got there too late and missed their flight The mission home had to pay 200 American dollars to get them switched to another airline on a flight 3 hours later. I imagine that was nerve wracking for their families at the airport. Apparently, their stakes will have to pay the money for them being late. But other than that all went smooth and we were able to handle things well.
Things are still going great in the area. We had 2 more baptisms (Noralba and Natalia) A mom and her daughter. We found them a long time ago with Elder Amador way up on the mountain and their progression process has been very slow but they got to the point where they were ready and they were very happy. We held the baptism Saturday morning and there was a good turnout and a great spirit. After the baptism we had lunch with an American family from Virginia with some nice spaghetti and french bread. Then we ran to the airport for a flight to ...... Barranca.
This week was district conference in Barranca so we went with President to attend it. Barranca is one of the most famous cities in the mission because of the climate. It has like 200,000 people and a district with 3 branches. The average temperature is close to 100 degrees and it averages like 85% humidity. Haha not joking it feels like walking around in a sauna and you drip sweat just standing there. It is like the center of oil production in Colombia and has a huge refinery. It has gained the reputation of being like the Siberia of the mission or a place where some missionaries get sent to punish them. President Hacking is working hard to change that perception and send hard working missionaries because despite the climate and a little bit of a rough history with the FARC a while ago, the people are very receptive and they could really use the gospel. So we had a good chance to meet members and work with the missionaries there. President even surprise asked us during the priesthood meeting and the conference to talk for a few minutes, but it was cool and we took advantage to put in a good word about working with the missionaries etc. American missionaries haven’t been there for a long time and the little district needs help but there are some great families that do all they can there. Despite the killer climate I really would love to work there. I think with a good attitude and some desire, someone could do amazing things there to build up the branches.
After a long time without them, it is now time to start getting ready for zone conferences and the zone leader meeting. We are going to have the meeting in Bucaramanga this time. We have been talking a lot with Pres etc and we are going to make it a super zone leader council. It is going to be an all day thing, everyone is going to travel in and we will do tons of practices and discussions and trainings etc ... so that will take a lot of preparation but I am very excited. Plus I love Bucaramanga like my home which is also good.
Elder Gags (Gagliardi) and I have set and are working with goals to always work harder and improve but we really are having a good time. We work very hard but we never forget to joke around and enjoy this great time of our lives so things are going great.
As far as the mission, right now we’re down to 149 missionaries and dropping. I guess the church is now into India and other places so they are sending lots to other parts of the world and our numbers are going to drop to about 132! Which means closing 11 total areas. This transfer we had to close 3 and it’s just going to keep dropping.
Elder Corro goes home this transfer, in November. He is training in Sogamoso and doing an amazing job with his son so I am happy for him. One blessing of being assistant has been having great companions. Elder Corro was awesome and I learned a ton from him and so is Elder Gagliardi. He is a great person and a great missionary and I am learning a ton from him to.
Oh by the way, President Hacking called me right away when he got the email about Annaleigh! That’s Awesome!!! The pics look very cute but what surprised me even more was little Caroline. I can’t believe how much she has changed since I last saw her. But hope all is going well with health etc as far as Ben, the new baby and Angie. All I can do from here is pray and try to do my best. But the family everywhere from Calgary to Kansas to Wyoming is on my mind and in my prayers. So thanks for everything again, gotta run, love you, I know the church is true . Elder Barnard
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Another Transfer Week
September 21, 2009
Hooola familia,
It’s been another great week. I got to travel and do swaps with some missionaries, things keep going great in the area and we are about to start another infamous transfer week.
Tuesday thru Friday I spent in the Yopal District. Yopal is a city here in the mission of about 60,000 people. It is a little isolated from the other main parts of the mission and the highway going there isn’t safe so everyone goes by plane. I spent the first 2 days in Yopal which has a very strong branch of the church and 2 companionships. We had a great day and we set goals to serve more in the companionship.
The next day I left with a great missionary who was a Zone Leader for a long time and is now training for the first time. His comp. is an American (Elder Naumu) who is very new and is still learning the language, but they are both very excited and working great.
Aaaaand the last day I traveled about an hour outside of Yopal to "Aguazul," It’s the newest branch in the mission. It’s in a little town of a few thousand and was officially organized just a few months ago. Working there is Elder Torres and Elder Huanio. First of all Aguazul was awesome. After so long in bustling cities it was nice to see calm, quiet streets and things like big fields and cows (made me remember home a little). It was great because both Elders were veery excited about their area and they have people preparing for baptismal dates every week for the next month. It was cool to meet the members of the new little branch and see how excited they were about the church. They are pioneers there and almost all new converts, so the missionaries play a big part in running the branch. It is growing quickly and gaining momentum. Overall it was a great trip.
The purpose of working with all the other missionaries is to be an example of what should be done and all the things we are implementing in the mission so I always focus on that and try to get the missionaries excited and serve them haha. I think I end up learning probably more than they do, so I love getting out and working with them.
Saturday was also a great day. We had the baptisms of Lily, Bridgette and Angie. A little American girl from the ward also got baptized so we coordinated the baptism with the family and did it about half English and half Spanish. It turned out great and they were all very very happy. I baptized Lily (the mom) Elder Zari baptized Angie (The older sister) and brother Barrero (the ward member that helped befriend them) baptized Bridgette (the youngest daughter). The baptism was very spiritual. Lots of members came and Sunday after being confirmed, Bridgette wanted to share her testimony in sacrament meeting and she talked about how happy she was that God guided the missionaries to them and that they could enter into the true church. It really was a miracle how we found them like I told you. We were just walking down the street and Elder Zari said something like "I've always wanted to knock on doors in there, let’s go try". From there they invited us in and we taught part of the first lesson and about a month later they are now members of the church.... awesome.
After church yesterday we had 2 more people receive their baptism interview and they will be baptized next Sunday morning. They have accepted and kept every commitment we have left and their only doubt about baptism was if we could still visit them after :). It is a mom and her daughter named Noralba and Natalia. Elder Amador found them a long time ago and they showed much interest but we just couldn’t get them to go to church. Just as we were about to stop visiting them something happened, they felt the spirit and made the sacrifice to go to church. Since then they have progressed slowly but surely and they are now ready so we are very happy for them and excited about it.
Saturday and Sunday we spent with President Hacking helping him a little to decide all the transfers. When we got there he had already done most all of them and then we just gave a few suggestions and explained a little about some missionaries he didn’t know well yet. There were a lot of transfers again (not as many as last time but a bunch). Last night we made the calls to all the Zone Leaders for them to announce everything to the mission. Many were very happy, others called today complaining, but that’s life.
We really got to see President Hacking receive revelation about certain transfers as we were talking and moving faces around on the projector and I know the way they turned out was the way the Lord wants them to be. We have an internet program from the church that has all the missionaries pictures organized into their areas and zones with info. etc, so we set up a projector in his office and use that. So this week we will be busy organizing all that business like every transfer week but it’s all good and I think it will go great.
So that means ANOTHER transfer is starting. Time is flying, I now have over 13 months! I have 3 transfers as Assistant or approximately 4 months. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last transfer I am here but I also wouldn’t be surprised if I stay here longer. It just depends on President and The Lord. The Church recommends that you be an Assistant for no longer than 6 months. I have thought about it a little and I will be very happy whatever happens. I love what I am doing now and getting a chance to learn about leadership but if he sent me tomorrow to be junior companion anywhere in the mission I would be just as happy and keep enjoying the mission just as much. I have so much joy in being a missionary and I will be grateful to go and serve wherever he wants me to.
I have set new goals to make this transfer better and keep progressing. The church version of the Spanish Bible just barely got released so I am putting some serious study time into the Gospels and learning a lot.
Today we played soccer which was fun, everything is going great and I hope everything goes well with all the travel, with Ben’s health etc. and all the business that life has. You will stay in my prayers and thanks for everything, Much Love Elder B
Hooola familia,
It’s been another great week. I got to travel and do swaps with some missionaries, things keep going great in the area and we are about to start another infamous transfer week.
Tuesday thru Friday I spent in the Yopal District. Yopal is a city here in the mission of about 60,000 people. It is a little isolated from the other main parts of the mission and the highway going there isn’t safe so everyone goes by plane. I spent the first 2 days in Yopal which has a very strong branch of the church and 2 companionships. We had a great day and we set goals to serve more in the companionship.
The next day I left with a great missionary who was a Zone Leader for a long time and is now training for the first time. His comp. is an American (Elder Naumu) who is very new and is still learning the language, but they are both very excited and working great.
Aaaaand the last day I traveled about an hour outside of Yopal to "Aguazul," It’s the newest branch in the mission. It’s in a little town of a few thousand and was officially organized just a few months ago. Working there is Elder Torres and Elder Huanio. First of all Aguazul was awesome. After so long in bustling cities it was nice to see calm, quiet streets and things like big fields and cows (made me remember home a little). It was great because both Elders were veery excited about their area and they have people preparing for baptismal dates every week for the next month. It was cool to meet the members of the new little branch and see how excited they were about the church. They are pioneers there and almost all new converts, so the missionaries play a big part in running the branch. It is growing quickly and gaining momentum. Overall it was a great trip.
The purpose of working with all the other missionaries is to be an example of what should be done and all the things we are implementing in the mission so I always focus on that and try to get the missionaries excited and serve them haha. I think I end up learning probably more than they do, so I love getting out and working with them.
Saturday was also a great day. We had the baptisms of Lily, Bridgette and Angie. A little American girl from the ward also got baptized so we coordinated the baptism with the family and did it about half English and half Spanish. It turned out great and they were all very very happy. I baptized Lily (the mom) Elder Zari baptized Angie (The older sister) and brother Barrero (the ward member that helped befriend them) baptized Bridgette (the youngest daughter). The baptism was very spiritual. Lots of members came and Sunday after being confirmed, Bridgette wanted to share her testimony in sacrament meeting and she talked about how happy she was that God guided the missionaries to them and that they could enter into the true church. It really was a miracle how we found them like I told you. We were just walking down the street and Elder Zari said something like "I've always wanted to knock on doors in there, let’s go try". From there they invited us in and we taught part of the first lesson and about a month later they are now members of the church.... awesome.
After church yesterday we had 2 more people receive their baptism interview and they will be baptized next Sunday morning. They have accepted and kept every commitment we have left and their only doubt about baptism was if we could still visit them after :). It is a mom and her daughter named Noralba and Natalia. Elder Amador found them a long time ago and they showed much interest but we just couldn’t get them to go to church. Just as we were about to stop visiting them something happened, they felt the spirit and made the sacrifice to go to church. Since then they have progressed slowly but surely and they are now ready so we are very happy for them and excited about it.
Saturday and Sunday we spent with President Hacking helping him a little to decide all the transfers. When we got there he had already done most all of them and then we just gave a few suggestions and explained a little about some missionaries he didn’t know well yet. There were a lot of transfers again (not as many as last time but a bunch). Last night we made the calls to all the Zone Leaders for them to announce everything to the mission. Many were very happy, others called today complaining, but that’s life.
We really got to see President Hacking receive revelation about certain transfers as we were talking and moving faces around on the projector and I know the way they turned out was the way the Lord wants them to be. We have an internet program from the church that has all the missionaries pictures organized into their areas and zones with info. etc, so we set up a projector in his office and use that. So this week we will be busy organizing all that business like every transfer week but it’s all good and I think it will go great.
So that means ANOTHER transfer is starting. Time is flying, I now have over 13 months! I have 3 transfers as Assistant or approximately 4 months. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the last transfer I am here but I also wouldn’t be surprised if I stay here longer. It just depends on President and The Lord. The Church recommends that you be an Assistant for no longer than 6 months. I have thought about it a little and I will be very happy whatever happens. I love what I am doing now and getting a chance to learn about leadership but if he sent me tomorrow to be junior companion anywhere in the mission I would be just as happy and keep enjoying the mission just as much. I have so much joy in being a missionary and I will be grateful to go and serve wherever he wants me to.
I have set new goals to make this transfer better and keep progressing. The church version of the Spanish Bible just barely got released so I am putting some serious study time into the Gospels and learning a lot.
Today we played soccer which was fun, everything is going great and I hope everything goes well with all the travel, with Ben’s health etc. and all the business that life has. You will stay in my prayers and thanks for everything, Much Love Elder B
Monday, September 14, 2009
San Gil is Great
September 14, 2009
Hola querida familia,
This week has been another good one. I spent the week away from Bogotá in Bucaramanga and San Gil. I can’t believe how fast the weeks are passing, it seems again like I wake up one day and its Thursday and the next morning its Monday again. Last Monday after we wrote, we flew up to Bucaramanga.
I got there and was going to go on splits with the zone leaders etc. but we found out that Elder Williams (who got his appendix taken out was going to have to spend over a week in bed. It's a good thing that he made it to Bucaramanga before it happened. He is in a little old town called San Gil that’s about 2 hours away from Bucaramanga. We spent the first day in the house with him etc. and then we decided that I could go back to San Gil with his comp (Elder Butron) until Friday at least so that we could help keep his area up.
Anyway, we took the winding bus ride to little old San Gil on Wednesday to spend some time working there. It has about 40,000 people and a little solitary branch. Actually they have been having lots of problems with the branch and some of its leaders doing things like asking converts for money etc. so President Hacking also went to do interviews. The town is shaped like a V... there is a river that crosses thru the middle and the rest is just hills going up from either side. You get tired pretty quick climbing the hills everywhere. It’s got the Spanish design with their type of buildings and only tiny little streets. It’s an amazingly cool place.
One crazy story from San Gil, they explained to me is about a strange family that lives up out of town on a farm. I guess they had tons of money but now they are completely poor. They have lost everything and just live alone up on their farm. One of the little girls has claimed to see spirits and stuff and the people seriously just look like the walking dead. They asked us to visit them and say a prayer or a blessing for the home. It was seriously crazy. We went to see them and they are all losing their teeth, they are completely pale even the little kids. They just slowly walk around like zombies. It is so sad. We shared a message with them, said a prayer and blessed the house and got out.. We had a good time working in San Gil, taught some good lessons and it was a great all around experience.
Also, the Jensen’s were traveling to Bogotá so they asked if we could go and teach at the little university where they volunteer teaching English. So we went with Elder Butron and followed their lesson plan and it went well. It was a little weird because the class only had 8 students and they were all college girls between 18 and 21. We told them about the church etc and practiced English and the missionaries should be visiting them this coming week.
Friday, yes September the 11th, I took a flight back to Bogotá. On the airport TV I saw the clips of some tributes and stuff they did in the States and also a clip of Obama talking and then a senator called him a liar. Ha I guess I am glad I don’t know anything that is going on there. It’s a little scary. The only thing you hear around here is that the US is thinking about putting military bases here and all the other South American countries are freaking out about it, especially Venezuela.
But anyway returning to the work here, everything is going great in our area. The Diaz Family (the ones Zari and I found by randomly knocking on one door that we felt good about) are progressing amazingly. We have been taking an awesome member family, the Barrios, to every lesson and they have become great friends and helped them a ton with everything. This week we taught the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and they accepted them right them away, it was amazing. I was a little nervous because the mom (Lily) used to drink tons of coffee, but she completely agreed with it and has stopped drinking coffee. She also tells about how her family and coworkers have been trying to tell her bad things about the church and stuff like "are you sure you want to do this? this isn’t like you Lily" and she just tells them that she can feel that it’s right and she knows it’s what she and her children need. It really has been amazing how quickly they have gained testimonies and how strong they are. Yesterday they all came to church with their dresses on etc. and after they had their baptism interviews and all passed. They are way excited for their baptism this Saturday. A little girl from the ward is also getting baptized so we are planning it all together and it should be an awesome service. I am so excited and happy for them, you really do grow to love your investigators. The little girl (Bridget) asked that Brother Barrero baptize her, the older sister (Angie) asked that Elder Zari baptize her and the mom Lily asked for me to baptize her. Also the 26th we should have 3 more people who I will write about next time cuz I am out of time.
But all is going great; I am loving every minute of it. It’s weird to think that I have spent more time here than I have left so I am just trying to enjoy every second. Thanks for Everything; you’re all in my prayers. Hope all goes well with the Chemo for Ben, and Happy BDAY AMY!!!! The church is true, I love you, Bye. Elder Barnard
Hola querida familia,
This week has been another good one. I spent the week away from Bogotá in Bucaramanga and San Gil. I can’t believe how fast the weeks are passing, it seems again like I wake up one day and its Thursday and the next morning its Monday again. Last Monday after we wrote, we flew up to Bucaramanga.
I got there and was going to go on splits with the zone leaders etc. but we found out that Elder Williams (who got his appendix taken out was going to have to spend over a week in bed. It's a good thing that he made it to Bucaramanga before it happened. He is in a little old town called San Gil that’s about 2 hours away from Bucaramanga. We spent the first day in the house with him etc. and then we decided that I could go back to San Gil with his comp (Elder Butron) until Friday at least so that we could help keep his area up.
Anyway, we took the winding bus ride to little old San Gil on Wednesday to spend some time working there. It has about 40,000 people and a little solitary branch. Actually they have been having lots of problems with the branch and some of its leaders doing things like asking converts for money etc. so President Hacking also went to do interviews. The town is shaped like a V... there is a river that crosses thru the middle and the rest is just hills going up from either side. You get tired pretty quick climbing the hills everywhere. It’s got the Spanish design with their type of buildings and only tiny little streets. It’s an amazingly cool place.
One crazy story from San Gil, they explained to me is about a strange family that lives up out of town on a farm. I guess they had tons of money but now they are completely poor. They have lost everything and just live alone up on their farm. One of the little girls has claimed to see spirits and stuff and the people seriously just look like the walking dead. They asked us to visit them and say a prayer or a blessing for the home. It was seriously crazy. We went to see them and they are all losing their teeth, they are completely pale even the little kids. They just slowly walk around like zombies. It is so sad. We shared a message with them, said a prayer and blessed the house and got out.. We had a good time working in San Gil, taught some good lessons and it was a great all around experience.
Also, the Jensen’s were traveling to Bogotá so they asked if we could go and teach at the little university where they volunteer teaching English. So we went with Elder Butron and followed their lesson plan and it went well. It was a little weird because the class only had 8 students and they were all college girls between 18 and 21. We told them about the church etc and practiced English and the missionaries should be visiting them this coming week.
Friday, yes September the 11th, I took a flight back to Bogotá. On the airport TV I saw the clips of some tributes and stuff they did in the States and also a clip of Obama talking and then a senator called him a liar. Ha I guess I am glad I don’t know anything that is going on there. It’s a little scary. The only thing you hear around here is that the US is thinking about putting military bases here and all the other South American countries are freaking out about it, especially Venezuela.
But anyway returning to the work here, everything is going great in our area. The Diaz Family (the ones Zari and I found by randomly knocking on one door that we felt good about) are progressing amazingly. We have been taking an awesome member family, the Barrios, to every lesson and they have become great friends and helped them a ton with everything. This week we taught the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and they accepted them right them away, it was amazing. I was a little nervous because the mom (Lily) used to drink tons of coffee, but she completely agreed with it and has stopped drinking coffee. She also tells about how her family and coworkers have been trying to tell her bad things about the church and stuff like "are you sure you want to do this? this isn’t like you Lily" and she just tells them that she can feel that it’s right and she knows it’s what she and her children need. It really has been amazing how quickly they have gained testimonies and how strong they are. Yesterday they all came to church with their dresses on etc. and after they had their baptism interviews and all passed. They are way excited for their baptism this Saturday. A little girl from the ward is also getting baptized so we are planning it all together and it should be an awesome service. I am so excited and happy for them, you really do grow to love your investigators. The little girl (Bridget) asked that Brother Barrero baptize her, the older sister (Angie) asked that Elder Zari baptize her and the mom Lily asked for me to baptize her. Also the 26th we should have 3 more people who I will write about next time cuz I am out of time.
But all is going great; I am loving every minute of it. It’s weird to think that I have spent more time here than I have left so I am just trying to enjoy every second. Thanks for Everything; you’re all in my prayers. Hope all goes well with the Chemo for Ben, and Happy BDAY AMY!!!! The church is true, I love you, Bye. Elder Barnard
Monday, September 07, 2009
September 7, 2009
Hola family,
It’s been a great week. We spent a good part of the week preparing for the Zone Leaders council because we had nearly 2 hours to talk. We have a Zone Leaders council each month where all the Zone Leaders gather (usually in the mission office in the conference room) and my comp and I organize it. Elder Nash talked a lot about developing teaching skills as far as how to work with unity, using the scriptures asking good questions and teaching to the investigators needs. Chapter 10 of Preach my Gospel is the teaching skills chapter so we talked a lot about it and did lots of practices of different teaching situations and teaching skills.
Because we stayed here in Bogotá this week, we have had the chance to work a lot in this area lately and it has been going great. We had another great Sunday with 8 investigators in church and this week we had some great lessons.
One example is the Diaz family. We found them a few weeks ago and they came to church. They have really gained testimonies already. They had read the B of M every time we have left them and they have all (3) prayed to know if it was true. Each says they really feel something special when they do. We planned an awesome lesson (Elder Zari and I) for Thursday using the story of the iron rod to explain how their family could be happy by living the gospel. We taught them about the steps to baptism and I invited them to be baptized on the 26th. Haha it was so awesome, they didn’t even hesitate and the three of them all said "of course, what do we need to do?" We went back a few days later and they said there was a little problem that their son had his birthday and the whole family was coming so they wouldn’t be able to do it that day and asked if they could change the date... so now they will be baptized even earlier on the 19th :) They really are awesome people.
Another mom named Lily was left by her husband who took off with another lady and left her with the three kids. She spent like 8 years working day and night shifts to provide for the family and worked her way up in a local restaurant here. She is now the head chef over like 8 other chefs. She really is an amazing person and wants so much for her kids to have good lives. Her daughter who is
(15) became pregnant at the age of 12 (they haven’t told us anything about the situation but you can tell it was very rough for the family) but Lily has done everything necessary to raise the baby. She is now a happy, healthy 2 year old. She also has a younger daughter named Bridget who is awesome. She takes her Book of Mormon to school and shows her little friends and tells them about the missionaries. She always runs up and gives us hugs when we get there. The other day she made us a card with little notes and pictures saying things like "thank you for teaching us about Jesus and helping my family" haha it was great. They have loved church the first few times and are making friends quickly with all the members.
We have another family of 2 named Noralva and Natalia who we found awhile ago with Elder Amador. They have now progressed and started going to church. This week we also invited them to be baptized the 26th and they said yes.
We also have an older man named Luis who we recently found. He loves the church and has already read to Alma. This week we invited him to be baptized on the 26th and he said yes. Also, the daughter of a recent convert in our ward wants to be baptized the 15th so after all is said and done we should have at least 7 people to be baptized this month. Please pray that it will all work out for these people.
It really is amazing how you grow to love the people and to see and watch a testimony grow from a desire for good in their lives or for their family. I really know that the Lord has his "elect" people that are prepared and ready to receive the gospel and he has led us to many of them lately.
Our house is a little stuffed with 5 of us there but it has been fun to have Elder Smith here and our area is going great so we are all very happy.
This week I won't have much time to proselyte in our area because I am heading to Bucaramanga to go on interchanges with the missionaries there and work with them until Friday. I am very excited about this. Well I don’t have much time but thanks for everything. Hope all is well with everyone and I will talk to ya next week. Love you all, Will
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