Great New Ideas

Bogota
Q'hubo familia,
It was another week jam packed with interviews to get to know all the missionaries and dinners with Stake Presidents to start a good relationship with them. President and Sister Hacking are very comfortable and everything is going great with them.

This week we had our first interviews outside of Bogotá in a city called Duitama. It is about a 4 hour drive so we headed there early Friday morning with Pres and Hna Hacking. Elder Corro and I hardly knew the way there but we got some maps off the internet and managed to get everyone there alive. We stayed the night and we got to work with the Zone Leaders. We had a dinner with the Stake Pres that night and headed back in the morning.

We also had a lunch welcoming the new missionaries that got here a few weeks ago. One of them is Elder Sorenson that you mentioned mom. Tell his mom that he is in the north part of Bogotá in kind of a separated part called Suba. He's a great new Elder. We also had a goodbye dinner with an Elder from Chile named Elder Madariaga who I lived with for about 4 months in Bucaramanga and was my Zone Leader and a great missionary.

I am learning a ton about how to get around Bogotá because we guide Pres Hacking to the airport and to the different areas etc. We have also been having frequent meetings with Pres Hacking to get figured out what we are going to do and how. Some things are going to change in the mission like the “no music rule”. We came up with the idea to make mission approved CDs with MoTab and church music to give to the missionaries to listen to in their apartments. I think music is something that really invites the spirit and will be a big plus for all of us. Also the “sports rule” is about to end :) While discussing what we could do, I suggested we could set apart one or two P days every month where the respective Zones could get together and play soccer or basketball etc. but for a limited time and not too competitive. President Hacking agreed completely and we decided to put restrictions on the time etc. so people aren’t getting hurt or forgetting their purpose as missionaries.

Pres. and Hermana Hacking really are awesome, they are great people and I can see they are getting used to the mission and doing great things for it. We are going to get a new Assistant to the President. Elder Corro only has 2 more transfers after this one before he goes home and Pres. Hacking has been saying that he will definitely finish in the field because it’s always a great experience to end your mission that way. So there is a very good chance that when this transfer ends (August 9th), Elder Corro will be going to the field and we will have our new A.P. Pres Hacking asked us both for some suggestions so he can make the decision. It looks like I will have a new comp in August.

Now as far as this week, I am way excited. Tonight we are heading out on a flight to spend the week in Bucaramanga. Pres and Sis Hacking have dinners with the 2 Stake Presidents there, interviews with the 2 Zones there and the Zone Conference. We will be in Bucaramanga until Thursday, when we will go to Cucuta and have the dinner, the interviews and Zone conference. Then we will fly back to Bucaramanga on Saturday because they asked President Hacking to speak in a Ward Conference there on Sunday. We fly back to Bogotá Sunday night.

That also means we are starting the second tour of Zone Conferences with the first two this week. We had a good planning session and decided we would talk about chapter 1 of PMG which is "my purpose as a missionary" to help with the focus on what we need to be doing and why we need to do it, and then talk about Christ-like attributes. The basic message is that our purpose as missionaries isn’t totally to bring more people to the church or encourage people to live happier lives. It is to allow them to open the door that leads to the Celestial Kingdom which is (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endure to the end) and then we will talk about why that is our purpose and why our focus is baptizing. It is not for numbers or recognition, but for love of the people and understanding that it is the best way you can help someone. We have come up with some good and fun activities as well, so I think it should be great.

Saturdays are Baptism days and this August we have a rare "five Saturday month" which means there are 5 chances to baptize rather than 4. I really think we can break the mission record for one month (174 baptisms), so we are really going to try to get the missionaries excited and motivated to help the people here. It looks like we are about to start even busier times and I am very excited about what we have coming up.

Also on Saturday, Angelica (the girl we taught in Bucaramanga whose mom wouldn’t let her join the church) was finally baptized. I also ran into a member of Tierra Linda who had presented us a reference when I was there named Elena. We taught and then baptized her. She is now the Relief Society Secretary and completely active. She has applied to go study at BYU. It really is the best feeling in the mission to see people you find and teach and pray to find happiness in the gospel and really see the miracles that can happen.

Well I love you all. I have noticed lately my grammar and spelling seem to be getting worse so sorry if my letters seem weird. Thanks for everything; you are always in my prayers. Love Elder B

Our new Mission President is awesome!!

Colombia Bogota Temple
July 6, 2009
Hola Familia,
It has been an all over the place week and a great one. I’ll tell the story of the week and then the details. President and Sister Hacking arrived last Monday night. We went to the airport at about 7 P.M. with Pres. and Sis Camargo to wait for Pres. and Sister Hacking. Their flight was delayed so we waited about 2 hours for them to arrive.

Everyone greeted and introduced each other and then we threw their stuff in a van and we headed out in the Camargo's SUV to take them to the mission home. We got there and they showed them around and took a few pictures. We headed back to our apartment.

The next morning the Hackings had interviews and trainings with the Area Presidency and then we had a meeting at about noon with Pres Camargo and all the missionaries from the office. ha It was sad. Pres Camargo handed over the office keys, the car keys, they talked a little bit about how to get around etc. and he headed out, no longer the Mission Pres. President Camargo really was a great president and a great leader and I will miss him. It’s always exciting to have a change also. President Hacking wants to meet every missionary and Stake Pres in the first 3 weeks, so the schedule has been stacked full of interviews and dinners and mini conferences etc. Elder Corro and I have been very busy organizing these things.

President and Sister Hacking are great. They were both born in Utah, met in high school and afterwards both went on missions and then were married. He joined a business that makes chemicals for pipes when he was young and basically climbed the corporate ladder. Within a few years he was a Regional Manager. For 20 years he was the boss of the company in Latin America. It turns out they have a cabin about 30 miles south of Evanston towards the Uinta Mountains so they know Evanston (Will’s hometown) very well. President Hacking says he even met BJ (Will’s handicapped brother) in Smiths about 3 weeks ago when they were shopping - that's amazing even in a town of 12,000 people - what a small world.

They are both very nice people and very humble. Haha I can’t imagine what it would be like to spend 4 days in the MTC and have them send you out as a Mission Pres.

It’s been a change because President Camargo, after being in for 3 years, was very sure and concise in what he did. You would ask him a question and he would say "you need to do this..." and answer right away. President Hacking is getting to know the missionaries and the culture etc. so right now he is depending a lot more on asking what was usually done and then he makes a decision. He has said that he knows the mission has been doing amazingly well, so he just wants to keep it the same until he gets everything down and then start putting in his ideas, which to me seems excellent. He used the comparison of a train. The mission is a train going 100mph in the right direction so he doesn’t want to turn it around or start changing things, but rather figure out how we can get to 120 mph.

They have spent about the last 12 years traveling South America so he knows a lot about the culture and you can tell he is a business man. He knows how to work with people etc. He is very humble and very loving and will be an awesome Mission Pres. One thing I can see is that he is very spiritual and he puts emphasis on working directly with people and their needs etc. and doing the little things. For example we have been with him all day for 3 days this week, doing interviews with every missionary just to get to know them. They have said that they want to be at the airport when every missionary arrives and have great dinners to wish them off when they leave etc.

The first day he did interviews with Elder Corro and me individually. It was great. It’s amazing how fast you can start to love people. Sister Hacking is great - just really, really happy and friendly. She knows her basic Spanish. Pres Hacking knows how to speak Spanish and say what he needs to say. He just has this excitement and happiness that he transmits. Sister Hacking actually reminds me a lot of Mom. Pres Hacking prefers to talk to me in English which has been helpful but a little strange also because I've gone a long time without talking a lot of English, but it makes the communication a little more natural also.

Elder Corro and I have been very, very busy with everything this week. We have been organizing maps, calendars and answering about a million questions about how the addresses in the city work and how we travel to the other parts of the mission, what we do in interviews, zone conferences, comp interchanges, and about everything else that you only know when you’re a missionary.
But it really is amazing, we already love the Hackings and I can tell within a transfer or 2 the whole mission will also and we will all be doing great things.

It was also a great week in that Saturday and Sunday we were able to work in our area all day and we found some new people as well as committed a couple we have been working with, to get married and baptized with their daughter on the 25th.

Ha The fourth of July wasn’t exactly the same here as it is in good old Evanston. I remember it was always about the best time of year (especially in Evanston) because the town really came alive with tons of fireworks going off in every neighborhood and the family was all together etc. I really am grateful to be a Red Devil (name of our sports teams), Wyoming Cowboy, and Gringo also. Even more, I have realized from being in a third world country just how great we have it back there. For lunch on the 4th, we found a TGI Fridays here by the office, so the four of us (Corro, Zari, Amador) went for lunch to have some American food. We also have some English hymnbooks in the apartment, so I convinced and taught every one to sing the Star Spangled Banner. It really is evident, even in the scriptures, that there are so many blessings our country and continent are promised if we don’t forget where they come from and why we are so blessed. Even if there are some bad things going on there, the church is strong and I think there is a bigger share of the best.

So anyway, to end my letter, thanks for everything "always and all ways" as mom says. I think the testimonies of little kids are the best, and that is my testimony too... I know the church is true, I love my mom and dad and my family and my country, in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. ok that was a little dorky, but much love and talk to ya next week. Elder B

June 29, 2009

I'm a few days late in posting this - we have been super busy.

Will in front of the Bogota Temple

Will with some friends


Hola Familia,
Well it’s been another good week. After my awesome week traveling in the field we have spent a ton of time in the office in preparation for the arrival of Pres Hacking. We have spent almost every day preparing forms, having the office cleaned and getting every last detail ready. Sooo it has been hectic around here (I am in the office right now) but about an hour ago we finally got everything done and the place is looking pretty good and everything is ready.

This week we had all the zones get together and send in videos saying bienvenidos (welcome) to Pres and Sis hacking. It was a good chance to use what I learned in my video production class.

Also, I got the idea to make little goal cards that say "como mejorare hoy" (how will I improve today) with goals like a scripture to memorize, things to read, new Spanish words, an attribute to work on and goals of service acts. It has worked out really well so that I always have something I am working for. I really can’t wait to get this switch over so we can get back to normal mission life. But we know that we have everything ready and are just waiting.

Tonight President and Hermana Hacking will get here at about 10 o clock. We will go to the airport (me and Elder Corro) with Pres and Sis Camargo and a church driver to pick them up. I guess the way it works is once Pres Hacking touches Colombian Ground, he is the Mission Pres. We will take them to the mission home for tonight and have a short meeting tomorrow. President Camargo will give him the keys to the office and the mission car and he will head out. It’s kind of sad to see the time of President Camargo go because he is amazing and has done so much good but it will also be exciting to start a new period with the revelation and ideas that President Hacking has.

My goal is to be able to take everything he says and make sure it is accomplished. I have had some ideas like making a notebook to put just the stuff that Pres Hacking says and see that it gets done no matter what it is. I'm going to do the best I can.

Here is some info about the office and Bogotá etc. There are 4 of us that live in our apartment, Elder Corro, Zari and Amador. Zari and Amador are the financial and mission secretaries and are both great. The apartment is pretty small for 4 missionaries but it’s nice and we all get along great. Every few days we have pizza or something delivered to the house and these last few Sundays we have been making lunch for ourselves because the Camargos are now moved out of town. The mission office is about a ten minute walk from where we live. Bogotá is lined up against a big mountain and the tendency is the closer to the mountain the richer the people and the taller the buildings. The office is on the tenth floor of a building called Liberty Seguros (Liberty Insurance). It is in a really nice commercial sector with some fancy tall buildings and malls. The missionaries who are secretaries or APS get little security cards because you have to pass by a checkpoint to get in, so we just put our wallet over the sensors and it reads our cards and opens.
The office consists of a small waiting room which has little plaques that say Elder Barnard and Elder Corro Assistente al presidente. Inside there is the office room which has 3 computers and scanners and printer etc with another side room that locks where the safe and the financial office is. There is also a conference room that holds about 30 people and a great view of Bogotá, a room with all the materials and equipment and the presidents office. Also on the 3d floor there is a big section of the floor that is the general offices of the church for the South America north area. We always run errands down there etc so I have gotten to see a lot of how the church works etc which is really cool. Also in our area is downtown that has the skyscrapers and the gold museum etc. There are some pretty impressive big buildings, I think a few that are over 40 stories.

Elder Corro my comp is awesome. He is from Santiago Chile, his dad is a stake pres and his whole family are members. He is an awesome singer and like I said speaks great English. He has 20 months in the mission so we may only have 1 or 2 transfers left together, but then again you never know what the new pres will do.

Earlier this week I sent 2 cds full of pictures thru FedEx which I think is pretty safe and they should get there this week. They have all my pictures from the last time I sent cds up to last week so you will have them all.

I don’t know what else to write but all is going great, thanks for everything, I can’t believe it’s already almost the 4th of July. Hope everyone is going well.

I thought of a good idea the other day, if you could send some spiritual experiences that you have had or personal stories etc, things I could use in lessons to back up commandments or stuff like that it would be great.

Once again I love you all, happy birthday to Cameryn and have a good 4th. Love Elder B

New President arriving next week

June 22, 2009
Dear Family.
Well it has been a hectic but amazing week. But first of all I want to wish a Happy Father’s day to Bill and Ben and Dad. It was father’s day here as well. I really have realized over the mission how blessed I have been to have such an amazing family and amazing parents. I could write on and on of all the reasons I am thankful for such an awesome dad but I’ll just keep it to thanks a ton y te amo papa.

So I said in my last letter that we had scheduled for me to travel and do interchanges with the missionaries but we thought we would be too busy and I would stay here. But as I thought and prayed about it, I really felt like I should go, so that’s what I did. Elder Corro stayed here with the secretaries. That’s one thing that is a little strange about being an AP is that you have to be alone sometimes to travel etc.

But the week was an amazing spiritual experience. I got up at 4 A.M. on Tuesday morning to go to the airport and head off on a flight to Barranca, known here as the "oven". Haha they don’t send American missionaries there to work but we can do interchanges. I got there early in the morning and the Zone Leaders picked me up at the airport. I worked with them the first day and the second day with another companionship that needed some assistance. Barranca is a city of about 300 thousand people. The economy is completely based on all the oil and refineries that are there. I can say it lives up to its name as far as the heat. Both days it was between 100 and 107 degrees and high humidity. But it was awesome, especially after a week of confinement in the office. We walked and did contacts and taught lessons all day in the blazing heat and found tons of investigators. I even did my first two baptismal interviews which was also cool. Haha it really was amazing. The water isn’t heated, but somehow the showers don’t even feel cold. As soon as you step out, you are sweating and they sleep with fans running all over the place but it was an awesome experience and I loved working there.

Since Pres Camargo is about to be released, he and sister Camargo are traveling through the mission and having little goodbye firesides with the missionaries. Thursday was the fireside in Bucaramanga so I traveled on a bus with the Elders from Barranca on Thursday morning to Bucaramanga to attend it.

Another great experience. I really grew to love the city and the people there and it almost felt like going home to be back in Bucaramanga. I even got to stay at the apartment in Real de Minas where I lived my first 5 months. It is amazing how you grow to love the people. I saw the guy who worked at the little store below the apartment and the door man and I was like excited to talk to them and see how they were doing. That night was the fireside with Pres. and Hna Camargo which was great. They bore their testimonies and thanked the missionaries etc. and then everyone sang a few hymns. He also had me conduct the meeting, which was my first time.

After that we headed back to the house and we planned and got ready for the day with the missionaries in my old area (who the Zone Leaders wanted me to work with). It was cool to see some of the old members and they even had a family home evening planned with Marta and Jose (the amazing family that we taught and baptized). It was great to see them and talk to them and see their progress. They have been very actively going to church every Sunday. Jose is getting ready to receive the Melchizedek priesthood; they are getting ready to go to the temple, hopefully in January. Their son Pablo just happened to be on a trip with the youth of the ward to do baptisms for the dead in Bogotá at the Temple. I can’t even say how happy it made me to see them active and all the blessings they have received. It really is amazing to remember the day we knocked on their door and they let us come in for a few minutes - and now to see where they have progressed.

Later that night, we had another amazing experience. I don’t know if you remember from my letters, but with Elder Araujo we taught a 16 year old girl named Angelica who had been going to church for over a year and really wanted to be baptized, but her mom ended up never letting her, despite us asking about 4 times. The missionaries had recently returned to visiting them because she still keeps going to church and they wanted to share another message and ask if the mom would now give permission. They were happy to see me because we had spent a lot of time teaching them and really got to know them. We shared a message about the covenant of baptism and then it came time to ask the mom...and both the missionaries looked at me. So I asked her if, having heard all of these things she would give her daughter permission to be baptized and join the church. She thought for a second and looked at Angelica... and then said yes! haha it was a miracle. We had taught them and fasted and tried so hard to get her to give permission and now months later, she actually said yes and I got to be there. We were all amazed, including Angelica but it was a really great spiritual experience. She will be baptized and join the church on July 4th. It shows that the Lord knows what he is doing and has his plans.

The next day I went back to Bogotá. Three gringos arrived and today we had a party for Pres Camargo’s birthday and it all went great. Answers to some questions. Elder Corro goes home in November. His family are all members. All of the Elders here went to the MTC in Bogotá. Pres Hacking gets here next week so we have a lot to do. The transfer will be quite an experience but I know we can do it.
The church is true, I know it, thanks for everything and I love you tons, love Elder B

June 15, 2009

Will, with suit coat off, and some Elders in Bogota.

June 15, 2009
Hola fam.
All is well in Bogotá and it's been another great week. We have been very busy as usual but this week has been a little more relaxed. I can’t believe it is another P day. We have spent lots of time in the Mission Office getting everything ready for the new president and working on various projects that we do there. We also spent a day with president Camargo in Chia (suburb of Bogotá) while he did interviews with the missionaries there. I have finally had some time to really study and put some good time into Preach my Gospel and the scriptures. I have made the goal to read Preach my Gospel again from cover to cover before the end of the month so I have been putting whatever little bit of free time I can into that. We also have computers in the office so I looked up some talks about Leadership and Charity today. (Elder Corro and I made the goal to pick attributes every week to work on and study and improve so we chose those two) I have been learning a lot of great things and working hard to become a good leader and have more charity which also has a lot to do with being humble.

Elder Foote’s parents flew in last night to pick him up (he’s going home) and spend a few days in Colombia. So Elder Corro and I went to the airport and picked them up and took them to a hotel to spend the night. This morning we picked them up with a church driver and took them to the Presidents’ house to see Elder Foote and have lunch with President Camargo and his family. They are very nice, very humble people and we had a good time talking. haha We had them waiting inside and then they brought Elder Foote in and they hugged and cried and laughed and all that good stuff. Then they took Elder Foote out for a minute so Pres and Sis Camargo could talk to the parents and they had me come in to be the translator. They both expressed thanks and Pres. Camargo told them what a great example and missionary Elder Foote was. After we had a good lunch that Sister Camargo made and then we took them all to the hotel so they will spend today and tomorrow seeing Bogotá and go home on Thursday.

Also in other news, I gave a talk in church yesterday which went well and we had a good chance to work in our area Sat. and Sunday. This week we had scheduled that I would go to Barranca (the hottest place on earth) and Bucaramanga until Saturday and work with different missionaries, which had me really excited to get to know Barranca and go back to Bucaramanga, but it looks like we are going to be too busy this week here to be able to. We will make the final decision tonight on what is better.

I really like to get out with the other missionaries and work in the field but we are needed to organize things here in the office. The time is flying by (snowballing) and it goes faster and faster every week it seems. Tomorrow there will be transfers in the mission so we will call all the Zone Leaders tonight to tell them who is being transferred to other areas. It was really cool to work with President Camargo and see how he does the transfers. There are new missionaries arriving and there will be new Trainers pretty soon.

It really is humbling to see that president Camargo trusts in us so much, I still feel sometimes like I am walking in shoes a few sizes too big because there are so many missionaries that are so great, but I have also found the truth that to be a leader you need to put himself below all others (humble). Dad used to say that you can’t choose what time (or place) you are given; you can only choose what you do with that time and what you make out of it. That is really helpful to me.

My testimony grows every week and I know challenges help us. I know the church is true and I love it. Thanks for everything you do to support me and for your love and prayers.
Much Love, Elder Barnard

Another Awesome Week

A group of Elders in front of the Bogota Temple. Will is in the back.

June 8, 2009
Hola Querido family,

Ok so I think I finally have some time to write a little. First off, congrats. to the Heavens on the move! and Happy Bday to Angie. It sounds like it was a great birthday and I am praying that nothing happens with the crazy weather and tornadoes there!! Umm if I forgot anything else sorry but it’s been another hectic week but I'm settling in and the spirit of the work and the strength I have received have been amazing.

Last Monday I opened the package. Maybe it was for a reason that this package was the first one yet to arrive early, but after a long pday that wasn’t really pday and getting to the apartment very stressed, I got to open my package, read what the family had said and enjoy some American candy and salt and vinegar chips. I’m pretty sure it was the Lord helping me out that it got here when it did.

Tuesday morning we got up early and Elder Corro went to Bucaramanga and I went to Cucuta. Bogota has 2 airports, one for international flights and one for national flights. We went to the smaller one (national) and took our separate flights. It wasn’t a big Jumbo Jet but it wasn’t some dinky little plane. It is a big airline here called Avianca and it’s all approved by the church so no worries. The flight was very short and I left the chill of Bogotá and felt like I entered inferno haha (hell) Cucuta was ridiculously hot, much hotter than Bucaramanga. I think it got to 40 degrees which is over 110 F.

I worked the first day with the Zone Leaders and then the second day with a companionship that were having problems with arguing. We try to help them out. We worked very, very hard and talked with President Camargo. One of the best ways to help missionaries with troubles, is to show them that working hard serving the Lord, feels good and brings more happiness than almost anything else you can do. This has been a great lesson for me also because when I get to the interchanges I have to do my best to be a really good example, which is hard for someone who is imperfect, but I did the best I could and I think they are doing better now.

The next day was the Zone Conference. (A note about the money, we got there and the Zone Leaders who were in charge of having food for the break told me they had spent all their money and had none. So I lent them our card to buy McDonalds for everyone. Of course the mission pays it back.) As far as the conference, we had based almost the whole presentation on a PowerPoint, which President Camargo couldn’t bring with him from Bucaramanga, so I got to do a Zone conference without my companion and without the presentation. But it actually went great and I was able to do more on the spot talking and get the missionaries involved rather than reading from PowerPoint and the President liked it. He said that for the next one we shouldn’t even use it. After that I flew back home with Pres. Camargo. It was awesome because we contacted some people, including a taxi driver, who will be visited by the missionaries soon and were absolutely waiting for the gospel.

We got back late Thurs. night and prepared a Zone Leaders Council for the next day. This is when all the Zone Leaders come to Bogota and the Assistants and President give trainings on how we can be better leaders and help the mission. We put something together as fast as we could and talked about practicing what we preach and being examples. It went very well but was a little intimidating to be "training" Zone Leaders who have more experience than me.

The rest of the week we got to work in our area and today for Pday we went to Monserrate. It it a ferry that takes you up to a giant mountain that overlooks all of Bogotá. It was amazing and you could see everything and I got lots of great pics that I will try to send when I get a chance.

I have had some amazing spiritual experiences in the last few weeks also. Four of the investigators that we found in my last area that I had invited to be baptized and set baptismal dates for, have been baptized along with 2 more baptisms here in our area. One of them was the week before last. A 23 year old girl named Elena who was a reference from a member. I taught her the first lesson. We had worked so hard because she felt like the church was true, but she said she hadn’t received her answer, so we did everything we could think of to help her receive and recognize her answer from the Holy Ghost. The first time the Elders there went to teach her she said, "I got it, I got my answer, I need to be baptized this week." She then asked them if I would be able to come baptize her because she said I had helped so much for her to reach that point. We were able to go last Saturday to my old ward and see 3 of the baptisms of my investigators and I baptized her. It was such a blessing and a great feeling to see them there and that they had followed through and received their testimony. Elena wrote a little card and said thanks for all your help with a little box of chocolates from where she works. Julian, a teenager we taught who was also getting baptized, ran up and gave me a hug when we got there and said he missed me. It was such a blessing to see and it is seeing things like that that makes the mission so great and brings so much joy.

Some other news, at the Zone Leader Conf. I got to see Elder Larsen, from my MTC group, for the first time. He just got put in as ZL, and afterwards we all went to the temple so I got to talk to him for a while. The temple was amazing.

Things are going great with my comp. Elder Corro. He has a great sense of humor and is very upbeat. We really have great unity and we work very well together. He is an awesome singer and very smart. He speaks English really well so usually, as we are walking or planning, he speaks English to practice and I help him with any problems and I, of course, speak Spanish so he helps me. haha Sometimes we get weird looks on the bus or in the street when people see a dark Chilean talking to me in English and me responding in Spanish.

Questions. Every morning we walk to the office and sometimes we go to the mission home to do exercises. They are very close. The mission office is on the 10th floor of a large building and in the office there are 4 comps. who work there. There is Pres. Camargo’s office and a seminar room. We usually don’t eat with members but sometimes they give us dinner. This is an interesting barrio because all the people from the U.S. Embassy work in this area so the ward is half gringos and we have had dinner with a few. Well, I'm out of time - love you all so much - the church is true. Elder B.

Zone Conferences

We didn't get Will's letter until really late. I was getting a little worried. He was not able to get to a computer until tonight because he had so many things to do. What a prep day.

HOLA Familia,
Sorry it’s so late - life is great. We spent the whole day helping Pres. Camargo move out of his house so we got to the offices late and just finished the rigorous work of compiling ALL the stats of the mission so now with 5 minutes left I can start my p day. I guess that’s my new life haha, I will go I will do...

This week has been nuts, there is so much I could write but not too much time. I am trying to get things down in my journal and hopefully next week I can get everything written. This week we did 2 zone conferences here in Bogotá with about 35 missionaries each. We trained them for an hour and it went great. We used some pretty cool ideas.

Also we did companion interchanges in 2 little suburbs of Bogotá. That’s where my companion and I each go with different companionships for a day and a night and try to get them motivated, help them in their area, and fix any problems if there are any. I will be learning to live out of my little suitcase. Its so crazy because we get to the lessons and when it’s time to make the commitment, teach some of the main principles or take out the baptismal date, the other elders just kind of look at me and I know I have to be able to do it. But the Lord has really blessed me and all has turned out very well. We were able to have some great lessons and take out some baptismal dates and find great people. President Camargo says the purpose of the interchanges is to re-motivate the missionaries, correct what they are doing wrong and leave them excited and spiritually uplifted to work hard.

I still feel sometimes like I am walking in shoes a few sizes too big (more responsibilities than I am prepared for) but everything we have had to do has gone great and I have been able to do everything I need and still remain sane and happy thanks to the Lord, actually more than sane, I am loving all the things we get to do and the chance to help the other missionaries. I am learning to humble myself and I know it’s for my best.

I haven’t been able to read your letters, I just barely had time to print them and I will be able to read them in the apartment as soon as we get back. Tomorrow I am going to Cucuta by plane to stay until Thursday working with the missionaries and then doing zone conference there by myself because Elder Corro will be in Bucaramanga doing the conference.

I have so much I wish I could write you but time is short so I will try and get everything in my journal and hopefully get some more written next week. We have been very busy getting everything ready for the change of the mission president and there has been a ton to do with that as well as preparing the zone leaders conference where all the zone leaders come to Bogotá and we have a meeting of how we can improve every zone. All I can say is I am learning tons, very busy but I love it and I can rrrrrreally feel the spirit helping me more than ever.

I got a package today. I haven’t had time to open it but will do so when we get home. I really feel bad that I can’t write more, I read a few of your questions but I will have to answer next time. Please tell Scott I am very proud of him and he will love his mission and do great. Thanks for everything.
I Love you all tons, Elder Barnard

P.S. Please tell my friends that I have not been able to write, it is just very, very busy and I'm going as fast as I can to get everything done. I hope they understand.