Brand New Year

January 4, 2010
Hey Fam,
Its been quite another week here in Barranca. The new year went very well. We went to David and Shirley’s again and had a nice dinner with the other elders etc, and then just hung out and talked again with the other elders. There were also a few of the elders from my group that are in Bogota so I talked with them a little.
With the new year we set high new years resolutions to do everything we can. So the year is very new but we haven’t wasted any time since it started and have been working 100%. It is really hard to find investigators who will fulfill their commitments but we’re going to keep looking for them.
The attitude of the branch is improving a ton and we can already see the changes. Yesterday was fast Sunday, the attendance was up again to 40 something members there. The testimony meeting went very well.
Also after discussion and prayer we decided how to fill many of the empty callings here and so between the 3 of us (me, comp, bro Benavides) we spent Sunday interviewing ppl and extending their calls to them. It was quite an experience. The members accepted their callings and most seemed very excited to have a job to do in the church and I know it will help many more get involved. After we had ward council with all the presidencies and started to get things planned for the coming months. This Sunday we are going to have a training session with all the leaders to teach them exactly what they have to do and how. Next week we are planning a ward party to welcome in the new year and just to have a good time and build unity. We are learning tons about how to manage situations etc in the church but like I said we are seeing tons of progress in our branch.
We just have to find the way to get some new people because that is our first job as missionaries. But I finished the list that has every neighborhood and all the members (418) that live in each one so this week we are going to see as many as we can. I have faith that we will find some people.
That is what is so great about the mission is all the lessons you learn and my testimony has been strengthened so much. So I know I’m not perfect but I have promised myself that I won’t waste one second of my last calender year in the mish, I can’t believe how fast it’s going. So I’m going to try my best to improve for this new year and hopefully the Lord can help me.
I love you tons fam, you’re in my prayers. Thanks for everything, until next time, Elder B