Buga - Week seventeen

If I focus on the bad stuff, this week was pretty bad. We have no idea where Pilar is, and Cristian ran away from home, so we don't know where he is either. The other baptism we were gonna have, Mayuri, decided to move in with her boyfriend, who is less active, and Adriana is feeling kinda reluctant about the church and didn't go yesterday. BUT there were 2 really good things that happened this week and Id like to focus more on those...

First, Axel, my convert, blessed the sacrament for the first time, and as I watched him I started thinking about how much he's changed since the first time I met him. Honestly, he was a punk, talked to like 5 girls like everyday and straight up told me that he wouldn't be baptized. Now he goes to church every Sunday, even if nobody else in the house goes, and he goes in a white shirt and tie and stays all 3 hours. When they give him an assignment he does it, better than all the other YM who have been in church since forever, he goes to seminary everyday and reads the Book of Mormon on top of all the old testament homework they give him in seminary, and when he does divisions with me, he teaches the people, and has a testimony that's sooo strong! I love that kid so much.

Also the Light the Wold video came out, "Ilumina el Mundo" and I think its really awesome. We´re already using it and getting people to do the 25 ways in 25 days thing. We showed the video in our family home evening with the Yate family and gave them all a little card, so they can give it to their friends or neighbors. The cool thing is that even though not all of them are active members, or members, everyone committed to do the 25 days thing and give the little card to someone so that we can go visit them. I think that was really cool. We took pictures at the end.

Hermana Hernandez in the district had a birthday on Sunday. So we threw eggs at her (that's the tradition here) but she also threw them back at us. I don't think I'll be able to use that shirt again. 😧 but we ate cake too. It was fun!

cool.....love you all!

Buga - Week sixteen

This week, Elder Gamboa got moved, so now we have to work in like 2 thirds of the city and have no idea who lives in the area because the other Elders didn't fill the area book at all, but I WAS informed of the baptism/wedding that was planned so it was all up to me to get these investigators married and then baptized, so I DID! They're named Andres and Gisella, really cool people, but Andres is only 18 and Gisella 15 HA! They were already living together when we found them and Gisella is also kinda 3 months pregnant so Andres can't go on a mission, so the best option was to get them married. They're really happy. 

Also this Wednesday we went to paint a house as a district. It was actually really fun, I think we spent more time painting each other than the actual walls though. It turned out really bad, but it wasn't really our fault. Also, my companion decided to not help and to play with the kids of that family so that was also really cool. But I had a blast. Also the sisters decided to write DISTRICT WOODMANSEE on the wall, and told me to do my little, "hey look at me" pose that I like doing, so that's also there.

Also we have like 3 baptismal dates, Cristian, who's trying to stop smoking, Pilar who couldn't be baptized last week due to job stuff, and Mayuri, some member's girlfriend who lives out in the middle of nowhere (we had to take a bus to get there). We're working really hard, and with the other area that we have now, we think that we might have 7 or 8 baptisms before the end of this transfer, so that's coool. We won't be able to baptize Adhara (frank;s sister) this transfer because she couldn't go to church this week, because she was "studying"

thanksgiving isn't a thing here.

According to what they're telling me, that guy decided to bring his 4 year old son here too, so he's like getting a passport for him. They're telling me that he'll be here the first week of December. They're sending him pictures of my shoes so that he feels bad and hurrys up haha

love you

Buga - Week fifteen

So the news for this week is that Elder Torres went home to Peru because his visa expired so now we're in a trio with Elder Gamboa. We're called Woodmansee and the Bolivians, which would be a cool band name, but now we have to work in like 2 thirds of Buga. The plan is to just do divisions everyday with different members, which I'm actually enjoying because I only have to work with Elder Roman for every 3 days-that guy is really stressing me out. I'm still training him so I guess that means I still have to teach him things every once in a while, but if I wasn't I'd just leave with Brayan everyday, but I can't really do that...!

Pilar is going to be baptized this SUNDAY (some things came up and the only free time she has these days are Sundays, so I guess Sunday is the day we'll baptize her). It's kinda lame though since I thought that we were gonna baptize her like 4 weeks ago, but we also haven't been working too hard with her because she already has all the lessons and stuff.

Brayan introduced us to his younger brother, Cristian, who is pretty cool, but I guess he has like serious weed problems. The first time we went to go teach him the house just reeked of weed and he was like, "yeah come on in" and we were like, "maybe we should come back later..." haha but he ended up going to church this Sunday and he really liked it, so we think were gonna baptize him this transfer too. He actually hung out with us (the district + Brayan) today and he seems like he wants to change.

Yesterday we went to do our FHE with the Yate family and it was actually pretty cool. It was also the one of the sister's birthdays, so we did a short little lesson and celebrated her birthday. (I think it's really weird that the members here actually invite missionaries to their birthdays here, and at home I didn't really want anything to do with them hahah). I'll see if I have time to send the videos of the family home evening we did. We acted out bible stories and the people had to guess what story they were. We did Samson and Delilah, Eve and the Forbidden fruit, Peter walking on water, and David and Goliath. It was super funny.

everyone here is sad about the election because "now they'll never be able to go to the united states" hahah

ok, times up.....LOve you!

Buga - Week fourteen

This week went pretty good. Since last week was pretty terrible, we tried to have a really good week this week and we ended up having one of the best weeks I've ever had (statistics wise)! We taught a lot of people and had a lot of the new people that we're teaching go to church! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

So Pilar is going to be baptized this Saturday, if everything goes according to plan (she told us last week that she does have a coffee problem, so we're hoping that she leaves it this week). But she seems convinced and decided about the baptism, whereas last week she was kinda just like, eh. Which I think is really cool because she actually wanted to be baptized LAST Saturday, but we told her that she had to stop drinking coffee first and gave her some time to stop. Her progression is pretty cool.

We did divisions this week; I went with elder Torres, who is actually going home like tomorrow (weird visa things made it so that he didn't finish the mission at the end of the transfer, like normal). It went really well. We went and taught Pilar and did some visits with Brayan who fixed my shoes! (my shoes are kinda screwed) Then I got to put on his little hat and poncho that he bought.

I actually did give the priesthood to Brayan on Sunday, which was really cool! So now Brayan has the big boy priesthood. I think we´re gonna go consecrate oil on Wednesday or something. He's also really good when he comes with us to do visits. He also had an interview with Pres Pricoli about going on a mission, and Pres said that they're gonna have to write a letter to the First Presidency to ask for special permission, but it's likely that he'll be able to go....Super cool! We´re really happy for him.

We´re kinda upset that the branch presidency forgot about Axel and so he still doesn't have the Aaronic priesthood even though he was baptized like a month ago.

So, about Frank (the gay guy): He doesn't seem to be progressing (he didn't go to church yesterday, seems really distracted when we visit him), so that kinda sucks. Also, I think he got mad at us because we started to teach his older sister and his mom (who will probably be baptized this month. They're super good investigators). I think he has this weird jealousy thing with me and his sister or something, but whatever...

okay, love you ❤

Buga - Week thirteen

Honestly, being the district leader is pretty stressful haha since now I have to do baptism interviews and run THE BOX (the zone leaders came over on Wednesday and taught me how to do it) around and pay the water bills for everyone in the district, and honestly, it's taking a lot of time from me. Also, having a companion who's not really willing to cooperate isn't really helping. I feel like every week my son gets more and more, unwilling to obey or do anything the way that we're supposed to do it. I try to help him and correct him but he just only gets mad at me. At this point I'm convinced that he hates me, but whatever. Also, other missionaries (and even the branch president the other day) are telling me that he has serious problems with the sisters in the ward and that he's always telling people about his past life (which was a sinful one). So a lot of the new members and investigators are hearing him and think that all missionaries are like that. My new district and training responsibilities are kinda sucking. I'd say that I'm getting stressed out, but that's not really true. I'm just kinda hoping that this transfer goes by really quickly.

The good thing that happened this week is that Brayan is gonna get the Melchizedek priesthood this week! He had his interview with the district president this last week and was sustained in the district conference. He also asked me to give him priesthood, but the branch president said that might not be allowed (I don't see why not) but whatever, most probable outcome is that I'll give him the priesthood, and it'll be cool to have a bunch of Colombians with Woodmansee as their line of authority!

I don't know if we said this last week but the district goal is to baptize 20 people this transfer, and so far we have 2. I personally have 0 and a lot of the people that we were planning on baptizing aren't progressing so, I guess that means we'll focus more on contacting people. Pilar will probably be baptized this Saturday, but she doesn't know it yet hahah. I'm about to go start working, but the streets are FILLED with trick or treaters, so we'll see if  anyone will attend to us...

As for the missionary who just got back from my mission, I've seen tall missionaries with red hair, but never talked to them. If I'm thinking right, he finished when I was still starting, so I don't think he knows me. 

Also, in the Spanish bible, the annotations make it clear that the teaching applies to ALL sacrifices, even if in that scripture he was only talking about animal sacrifices, but whatever. 

love you all!

Buga - Week twelve

So today were transfers, I thought that they would change me because they never leave me in the same area for a long time, but I'm still in Buga, so I'll finish the training Elder Roman. I'm also the new district leader in Buga!!🎊 I honestly have no idea what to do, especially since the district leader in Buga is the only district leader in the mission that has a BOX (box full of money that we use to reimburse missionaries) and Elder Alcorta, my old district leader, handed me the box and said "here's the box" and then got on a bus and left to Cali. So now I have missionaries asking me about reimbursements and I have no idea how to run the box... or be a district leader really. So that's cool

That baptism we were planning on having didn't happen because Pilar, the investigator, says that she's not ready, even though she has acknowledged that she felt the spirit reading the Book of Mormon and going to church. Freaking CATHOLICS! She says that she can't be baptized because she doesn't know that much about the church even though we've taught her almost all of the lessons. So I think that were just gonna teach her the lessons that she has left and then tell her, "okay, we don't have anymore lessons. You already know everything" and see were she ends up. 

Brayan, my recent convert, is going to receive the Melchizedek priesthood this weekend! AND might go on a mission! (He's 25, so to be able to go on a mission, he needs special permission, that he might get!) AND introduced us to one of his friends named Francisco, or Frank. 

Frank is 17, and he has some problems, like, gay problems, also word of wisdom problems, and pornography problems. When I talked to him the first time he told me that all that stuff he's doing is natural and that we should be doing it because it's scientifically proven that it's good for us or whatever. But that was like 15 days ago, and now that he has gone to church twice, he says that he thinks that knowing the church and the missionaries was probably one of the best things that has ever happened to him, and he wants to get baptized! Which I think is really cool, because the truth is, we haven't even really taught him the Restoration yet (just law of chastity, since, its kinda a big problem) and he says that he noticed that the people who go to church seem happier than anyone else he knows. So he's willing to make a huge change and leave all that other stuff behind (and the first time we talked he said, "I would happily be Mormon with no problems, but you can't take that stuff away from me) which I think is really cool how someone can change that drastically in 2 weeks, just by feeling the spirit! I hope he can be baptized this transfer, but he might not be able to because of the gay stuff, which requires a long repentance process...

Scripture to think about:

1 Samuel 15:22

22 And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight inburnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice...

My companion, is like always wanting to break rules, and tells me that we HAVE to do certain things to help our investigators, and always tells me (and everyone he comes in contact with) that "obedience brings blessings, but sacrifice brings miracles..." What he tries to say by quoting that is that we have to sacrifice obeying all of the rules to be able to have even MORE blessings (in other words, disobeying is okay, if its to help someone) I honestly have no idea who said that, but a Prophet of the lord said that obedience is greater than sacrifice, so I always tell him that and he gets really upset with me.

We can apply this scripture in a non mission rule sense. A lot of people tell me that they can't go to church because they have to sacrifice Sundays to go to work, and that God will understand because God knows how much they need extra money. But going to church is a commandment so, Hath the Lord as great delight in sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? No. There's probably a lot more of these examples that you can think of, but people in Colombia are trying to use "sacrifice" as an excuse to not obey the commandments.

Also, I traded my Captain Moroni statue for some dragonballs that Elder Alcorta bought, not because I actually wanted to trade, but because I saw that Elder Alcorta REALLY wanted that Moroni, and he'll be happier with it that I am, so bye Moroni!  🤗😭

We also played Jeopardy with the Yate family in our weekly family home evening! The topics were: The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Commandments, and The Restoration. I've never seen grown men and women yelling and crying and jumping out of their seat yelling, "I know this! I know this!" like 4 year-olds. It was pretty entertaining. Not everyone who was there is in the pictures we took at the end, but yeah. 

Since I pretty much didn't write anything last week, here's a really long letter this week! love you

Buga - Week eleven

So today we went bowling as a district to celebrate my 16 MONTHS! We literally just got here like 10 minutes ago, so I literally don't have time to say anything else. Sorry! But I have a lot of photos on drive hahaha

I'm having a lot of problems with my son-wanting to be disobedient and telling people that he wants to be disobedient. Honestly, I have no idea what to do, especially with the women he's like always all up on them and I don't know what to do. When I tell him that he can't do those things he gets mad at me...

Yesterday I taught a FHE lesson about scripture study with the Yate family, and pretty much said that scripture study is more effective if we take notes, so do it!!

Sorry for the super short letter, but ill write more next week

Love you!