Veery Hot Here

November 23, 2009
Hola Mi Familia,
It’s been another week here in Barranca. We’ve been sweating like crazy but working hard and looking for new investigators. This week was pretty rough because we are still living in this hotel a long ways from our area. The whole situation is frustrating because we have to spend a lot of time filling out papers and running around etc. to get the new apartments. Because of this we weren’t able to get as much done as I hoped until Saturday. But we had a few good days of work and found some solid new investigators.

Right now we have a really good investigator named Eduarda. She is a teacher at a High School here and she was very impressed that at such a young age we would dedicate ourselves to being missionaries so she invited us to go talk to her class. On Tuesday the 6 of us went. Haha she also invited a guy who was preparing to be a catholic priest. The point was basically for the kids to see people living spiritual lives and accomplishing goals etc. So first the priest talked about the problems of drugs with adolescents and then although we didn’t prepare anything we talked about goals (having a vision for your life and how following what our Father wants us to do we can be blessed). Then we had a session of q and a and explained about the church etc. Another thing I realized even more is how blessed we are. This school was in bad condition and there were very few resources for the kids to learn from. But it was a cool experience all in all.

President Hacking came to do a training session with the leaders here and interview us. He told us that if we had to just drop our work and basically focus on getting somewhere to live until we were set then to do it. My interview went great. He said he knew I would be doing fine and just to keep up the good work. After he took us all out to eat greasy fried chicken which was great. All in all I am really frustrated because we have so much to do in our area and for a lot of the week we just didn’t get the chance to do what we hoped we could do.

On Friday not much progress was being made so I myself started calling the secretaries of the apartment places etc. and going to the place where they rent houses to get things taken care of. We finally got all the papers in and sent off. Tomorrow they will tell us if we are approved, I really hope so. The thing is that they ask for 2 people who will pay the rent if the church fails to do so and asks for the churches bank record, which the church never shows to anyone. haha In the end they sent it in with some documents that show that we own chapels in Bucaramanga and here, so hopefully that’s enough for the person who approves to let us make the contract. If it works out we will live 4 in one house (Elder Williams, Mura, my companion and I) and the other 2 in a different one in their area. So until that all gets sorted out we are still in this hotel far away.

We did have the first English Class and Ward Home evening on Fri and Sat. There were about 11 people at the English Class and 14 on Saturday and we tried to make sure that they were spiritual and fun at the same time. In English Class I taught them how to use pronouns etc and then we learned the Head Shoulders Knees and toes song. For the family home evening, we talked about the Book of Mormon and watched one of the CES Videos. We did an activity where each group had to read a part from The B of M and act it out. In the end it turned out well and I think it will move us towards building unity.

This Sunday 41 people came to church (although many were late) and the reverence was improved (Pres Hacking talked about that at his meeting). We only had one investigator due to the frustrations of this week. We have been making an effort to congratulate anyone who participates and welcome them and get to know everyone there. The strength of the branch is the youth. We have a solid group of young men and a few young women who are very active and want to work with us.

On Sunday we split up and I took one young man, my comp the other, and went off to do contacts and look for new people. It turned out great and we were able to get lots of contacts and find some new good potential investigators. The kids are about to have their school vacations so I am going to try and get some little name tags and start putting them to work every day with us so we can double up and get lots of lessons with members present. This week we’re gonna do everything we can to work consistently in our area despite the living problems and hopefully the contract for the new apartments works out.

Another cool thing that happened, in Bogotá we had an investigator named Asned, a 20 something year old guy who went to church a few times and was getting ready to be baptized, but he moved to Barranca. The other day Elder Zari ran into him and got his info so I called him and he remembered me and we are going to meet him tonight at the church for a lesson. So hopefully he is still interested. Cool coincidence So anyway these last few weeks have been rough because we’re limited and it’s made us get a little off track but were gonna do the best we can and start to get things changing around here.

It has been ridiculously hot this week. I think one of satans tricks is to make it hotter after lunch. Here they give us huge lunches and going out into the steaming sun with a very full stomach is not always an easy thing and makes you veeeery tired. Haha I sweat like crazy, I have started taking around a clean sock to wipe my face all the time but we drink lots of water and I don’t think I am losing a lot of weight.

We really are incredibly blessed; sometimes this work is a sacrifice. But I really loved a talk by Elder Holland that talks about how the atonement was such a sacrifice and if we really want to be called disciples of Christ we should be ready and willing to pass through a few challenges ourselves. Haha so whenever I find myself hot ’n sweaty and thirsty even at night I just think about how one day I will enjoy cool nights with a sweatshirt on with my fam or friends in the future, doing things like listening to country music, drinking a root beer, going for a drive, or a movie or a basketball game, maybe even with snow again. Haha but I'm not complaining, it is all worth it.

I am very happy where I am and what I’m doing .I know I’m where I should be and I really love it. I hope I am progressing as much as I want to. I learn everyday and my testimony has grown incredibly. I really know that we have the truth, and in the end that is what brings happiness. But I have to go, much love, take care and I will talk to ya next week.