Buga - Week three

So this week was good and bad. It was bad because we had a ton of stuff to do (not missionary work related) and we lost a ton of time and barely were able to work this week. Tuesday we had a "health conference" with 3 zones and some old dude from Utah came and talked to us in Spanish and that took alllllll day. So Tuesday we couldn't do anything. We worked pretty normal on Wednesday and Thursday, but I don't know what happened because nobody was able to talk to us. So we didn't do much those days either. Friday we had a meeting with the branch president that took like 3 hours and since we live 30 minutes from the chapel, we lost 4 hours that day. On Saturday, other missionaries in the branch had a baptism, so we had to go to that too. Then Sunday, we had to give a little Preach-my-gospel class to the members here in Buga about the gospel, so we lost a lot of time on because we had to first plan it, and second, give it. So yeah, there was a lot of lost time. I did get to see a lot of friends at the conference though, so that was nice.

The good part is that I'm getting along a lot better with my companion. All he had to do was get really mad at me first. So I'll explain. We were teaching a family at like eight at night, and since they're super friendly and talk a lot, we ended up just talking for an hour and didn't teach anything. At 9 my companion wanted to go home, but I wanted to like, talk about the gospel for like 15 minutes first (we have until 9 30 to get home). So we did, and we committed them to read the Book of Mormon and stuff, and on the way home I bought some bread. When we got home he started yelling at me, but we talked to each other for a really long time on what we can each to to get better and everything worked out. Ever since that day we've been working a lot better as companions. So I guess that's my testimony about companionship inventory. 

I don't remember if I told you about that family that we were teaching. That's like a really big family with investigators, both active and less active members. The active members told us that the less active members know that the church is true and that they just don't go because they're lazy/scared, and the investigators don't go because their husbands/parents don't go. So why should they? Anyways, we decided to not teach anything in the family home evening, instead just scold them or kinda yell at them, call them out, but with love. So we watched part of a Jeffrey R. Holland talk called "Feed My Sheep" (we started watching at 38 minutes if you're interested) and it was really spiritual. It was kinda exactly what they needed to hear. It talks about the progression of Peter from first, ignoring that he knew Jesus, to then being that guy that people hoped to be in the shadow of. But it all started because he realized that he loved Jesus more than anything else, and decided to be a disciple of Christ, not only for 3 years, but forever, and it's something that we can all apply to our lives...

That Muslim guy is pretty interested. He's super friendly and always makes us dinner. I think his 2 sons are more interested though. He says Hi btw and says that you guys are excellent parents. We have an appointment with him today, I'll let you know how it goes next week. 

I've been working on a little art project too. Every month in the Liahona there's a little part with Book of Mormon heroes and some things that they did. So I cut them all out and put them next to our door. It's pretty cool. 

Today we played soccer. In the morning we went and all bought jerseys of the local team in Cali (the district) and we all played with them on. So that was pretty cool, but we had to change after we played so that fans of the other teams don't stab us. 

I haven't bought any shoes here because, there literally aren't any shoes here in my size! I have to have them made especially for me. But I guess I can try. 

I don't think you guys would even like to come here, since Cali is pretty sketch and "anti gringo." I also don't think that you're allowed to come. 

Anyways, that's about it. Until next week!

Buga - Week two

Do you remember what I told you about my first companion in the MTC and how HARD it was to be his companion? Well, my companion that I have now is like, the second coming of that companion. I'm having a hard time. 

I mean, I'm not having a hard time because he's obedient, because my last companion was obedient and I really liked being his companion. The problem is that I'm only his second companion, so he's used to the way his trainer did things. So when I do things in a different way, he legit gets mad at me and tells me that we shouldn't do things like that. (for example, contacting people in the street by first talking about the Olympics or the current trend at the moment, and then afterwards talking about the gospel, like how the MTC and Zack taught me). Sometimes he calls the zone leaders and tells me I'm doing something and they're like,, "uh, is there something wrong with that? We do that too." (like putting my camera in my scripture bag). I guess the part that annoys me the most is that he's wayyy too serious. I like to get to know the people as people, but I guess he only sees them as objects to read scriptures at. He also doesn't like walking fast like I do, he likes speed walking (like the Olympic sport). Way too fast...

But anyway, he's a good guy and a good missionary, but I'm not a fan of his style.

Also, the area I'm in is kinda trash too since the missionaries that were here before us didn't really do anything. So there's not a lot of people to teach. So we focused on finding people. Some of the people we found here were pretty great. We found this one guy named William, who's a journalist, and he's also MUSLIM. The first Muslim I've met here. He legit reads the Quran, prays 5 times a day facing Mecca, and speaks Arab. But he's super cool, super friendly. There's also this family here that we're working with. Like, a really big family! The dad (80yrs) and one of his daughters and son in laws are active members. His other two children are less active, and their spouses aren't members, even though the children are active members. The other daughter is a Jehovah's Witness (meaning, we're not even gonna bother working with them), but we have a big family home evening planned out with them. Some things have happened to the less active children and we, the missionaries and the active members of the family, see this as an opportunity to reactivate/baptize everyone else! I think that it'll work out.

Also, today I went back to the hospital and got my ears rinsed. I HEAR EVERYTHING! A ton of stuff came out. But because of that trip, we did kinda lose 5 hours today, so I'd write more but I don't have hardly any time! Maybe this week I'll buy another SD card and start taking photos again.

Did you ever send that 1 year package? I DESPERATELY need new shoes and new black pants! I'm actually using shoes that another elder left in our house, also trash, but they fit me and they're better than what I have now!

anyway, I'll write more next week. love you guys

Buga - Week one

Last week we couldn't really do anything because, since my companion was the district leader, we were busy doing interviews alllllll week last week, (since Andalucia is kinda isolated, one interview = one day lost). My companion had to baptize one of the hermana's investigators, so I Saturday was lost too. All in all, we only got to work Monday, Tuesday and part of Wednesday. So, kinda boring.

Also I got transferred again, so in the last 3 transfers I've had 4 areas and 4 different companions. So the last transfers were pretty trash since I was only in each area for 3 weeks and that isn't really enough time to do anything meaningful, but I'll never be able to go back to those areas which also sucks because I really liked both of those areas. Anyways, now I'm in a town called Buga. I'm senior companion again, but my companions like a huge dweeb and freakishly obedient again, which is good in some ways and bad in others (for example, like even now as I'm writing this letter he's like watching me and asking me questions like, "what website is that???" it's google drive, I use it to send photos, "are you allowed to use that??????" yeah, I have permission, "who gave you permission?????" President Pricoli, and stuff like that) He barely finished his training so I'm like his 2nd or 3rd companion. I'm pretty sure they put me with him as a test to see if I really am smoking weed in the mission or if I was innocent like I told them I was. But whatever, this should be fun.

Also, ever since like January, my ears have been getting kinda plugged up any time I lay on them at night. Then, starting in like May or April, they started scabbing (or bleeding I guess) so I told my companion about it, and he was like, "hey, maybe you should clean your ears." So I tried cleaning my ears with like a q-tip, and when I took it out, I literally couldn't hear anything. So I went to the hospital today LOL. They gave me some ear drops I have to take for the next 10 days and then after that I have to go to an ear doctor to have them flush my ears out. So that's cool! I'll just be kinda deaf for the next 8 days or so.

I also haven't been taking a lot of pictures because, my SD card I brought from the US broke, and the one I bought here in Colombia just happened to be a pirate product (found out after I examined it closely) and decided to stop working, so that's great.

Anyways, I'm short on time, (since we went to the hospital, which is like an hour away) so I'll write more next week. Love you 

Andalucia - Week two

Yeah, so this week went pretty alright. I mean, a lot better than last week where I didn't get to do much of anything, but, yeah.

So I think I mentioned that when I got here we pretty much didn't have anybody to teach, so in the district meeting we made a goal to find 4 families. Then this week we found 5! So this week we had 19 new investigators (which is supper good in this mission) and all of the families we found are married! (which is super weird because nobody gets married in Colombia). So yeah, we are definitely gonna work really hard with them. Most of them couldn't go to church this Sunday because they already had another compromise, but we committed them all to go to church the next Sunday. They all seem super prepared, so I hope that everything goes really well.

Also, last week the branch president asked me if I could play the piano in sacrament meeting and I said something like, "If I could practice for like an hour each night I could probably learn 3 hymns." Then he told me, "okay take the piano home and practice for and hour each night." So I did and learned 3 hymns and played them in sacrament meeting! The hymns I learned were "I stand all amazed," "nearer my god to thee," and "let the holy spirit guide" because they're the easiest hymns I could find. But it was great! So I think I regret not getting better at the piano because I'm kinda good at it. So make Blake learn some hymns!

Also this Saturday the sister missionaries had a baptism, (and i baptized him) but it honestly made me realize the importance of baptizing converts, not just getting people a little wet, because, I feel like this kid I baptized didn't really want to get baptized, and the sisters just kinda made him do it, (when I said that to the sisters they got super defensive and stuff, since one of them has only 1 month in the mission)But then this Sunday he took off his tie and untucked his shirt right after the confirmation, and didn't even take the sacrament, which made me think, what's the point in even baptizing people like that? Why are we on the mission? To baptize as many people as possible to send the pictures to the family, or to actually help build the kingdom of God?

Anyways,

I actually wrote to president about the incident, and he told me that the area authorities told him to send us home! So I guess I can't be really mad at him for only making me junior companion. Also, our stats this week were pretty good so maybe in one week when the transfers get here I won't be junior companion anymore! ha

anyways, thats kinda it. love you guys

Andalucia - Week one

So...I know that the zone leaders SAID that we were in the house sleeping but that's literally not what happened, but nobody believes anything I say in this mission anymore so, whatever. What REALLY happened was that after church and branch counsel we got out at 2, (church started at 10) and then one of the families who had just gone to get sealed in the temple had invited us to go over and look at the pictures that they took. They gave us a little bit of food but at 4 we got home and started cooking, so that's why we were in the house at 5. We were also in garments in the house, so I guess that's why they said that we were sleeping, but whatever. On Wednesday they came again in the morning and just told us to pack our stuff because we were leaving, so we had to pack all our stuff up in like 1 hour and then take a bus 4 hours to Cali, and were interviewed. The interview itself was a joke, he did show us the pictures, I have no idea where they found it because I had never seen it before, but what could I say? Oh, it just magically got there recently lit...nah, but I was like, "President I have no idea how that got there or whose it is, but I can promise you that it wasn't one of us, and if you don't believe me we can do a drug test, because we have nothing to hide." To which he responded, "No, I'm not gonna do that, I'm just gonna assume you're lying." So yeah, after doing divisions with the assistants and sleeping in the mission house, in the morning they told us our transfers. Now I'm in a suuuuppperrr small town called ANDALUCIA, (no really, this place is like super small) and they made me junior companion, and my new companion is like suuper obedient to the point where he makes up rules. (so President obviously didn't believe me, but honestly, I probably wouldn't believe me either). So I was kinda really upset for like the first few days. 

I mean that's kinda all that happened this week. I have no idea who the new missionaries are in my old area, but we were working in 2 areas, and now the new missionary there have to work in 2 areas without knowing them. When I looked at the mission statistics for this week, they had 0 baptism dates, so the 4 that we had when I was there are gone now. so.......

The new areas okay. I'm glad that I finally have a good companion now but at the same time, super bummed out. He just barely got here this transfer and the missionary before him literally didn't do anything. (one of them was my companion in Pasto, and the members here literally hate him, it's like if you're a bad missionary and don't do anything the members don't hate you, they just forget about you, so he must have been all sorts of bad). So there isn't really that much to do here, people to visit I mean, so, yeah. I guess that's it.

I tried to make the situation not suck so much and I did some things to lighten up my mood. Like, I bought a candle with the Virgin Mary on it (to bless the house and stuff). In the offices, they have these little signs that they put on the rooms where the new missionaries and the dying missionaries sleep, one side says "new missionaries" and it has a bunch of pictures of missionary work and stuff, and the other side says "trunkies" with pictures of a couple getting sealed in the temple, so I took a picture with the side that says trunkies...and the mattress when I got here had a little message on it. I'm sure I don't need to explain to you what happened....and I found this attack on titan sweatband, so it's mine now. Yeah, that's it. 

I was talking to my companion and explained to him what happened and he was like "well, the way i see it you can do one of 2 things, just stay being mad, or forget about it and show president that youre a hard worker" so i opted for the second. Hopefully in 2 weeks ill be senior companion again. who knows. 

Popayan (Americas) - Week three

Yeah, so the area is kinda getting better. We found a few cool people to teach. One of them is a family, but only a few of them are really interested. It's a family of 3 generations (like, the grandma, the mom, the daughter (all women no priesthood mission titanic!)) Apparently the missionaries were teaching them before but they didn't really understand anything that the missionaries told them, and then they started having problems and all the sudden they started understanding the things we started telling them. I actually made them cry while explaining what the Atonement is. Then we taught another family, and they started crying when we sung "Families can be together forever." So I think we're doing pretty good. We invited a lot of them to be baptized and they accepted, but they just couldn't go to church because they already had a family vacation planed. I think next week they'll go.

Speaking of temples, the area I'm in is like 16 hours away from the nearest temple. So the members only go like twice a year or something, and this week they all went. Everyone spent a ton of money just to go, and even some people quit their jobs. So it makes you think how lucky we are to live in the United States where there's literally a temple around every corner. This Sunday everyone shared their testimony and everyone started crying (mucho espiritu) and one family who just went and got sealed shared their testimony, yeah, powerful stuff. We're all pretty lucky.

Also noteworthy thing that happened this week: We went to go contact this family that used to always go to church when a certain elder was here, and when we got to the house her little kid (should be like 3 years old?) was playing outside, and we were like, "hey can you go get your mom for us?" So he runs inside and then like 2 minutes later comes back out and says, "my mom told me to tell you that shes not here." So, that happened lol

Then this week our zone leaders called the mission president and told them that they found a joint in our house and that we've been smoking weed and not working (last weeks numbers were pretty low) but we've cleaned the house several times and I've never seen a joint in the house, so I told president that they were lying (because they were) and he said he would call me back in 5 minutes and he never called me back. So I'm probably gonna have to deal with this soon, not sure what' gonna happen but it's super lame. I'll keep you updated on what happens, but my companion and I were so upset last night that I could barely sleep. 

Yeah I guess that's all. The pictures are of me and my district leader and pictures with that recent convert family, the one where I had to confirm the dad. 

love you

Pompayan (Americas) - Week two

I don't know why but I've forgotten to look at the blog the past couple weeks, and I just want to say that those new MVHS jerseys are suuuper sick. Is it too late for Blake to make it to the NBA?

Anyways, I think I said last week that we pretty much walked around lost because we have 2 areas to work in, and I was just assuming that it would get better next (this) week, but i was wrong. In the area I'm in, my companion just "killed" my trainer the last transfer, and knowing Elder Bello, they probably didn't do anything-because there are literally 0 people to teach! I asked my companion, "hey, do we actually have investigators?" and he was like, "not really." Soo that's really lame, because I don't really like not having plans in the day. Like Wednesday or Thursday I was just so discouraged that I was considering calling President and telling him that I have a girlfriend here so that he'd transfer me! ha, not really, but I was thinking stuff like, "this area sucks. I miss my old area." I was pretty much homesick for Cali, lol. Anyway, I think things will be better this week, we made some pretty good plans.

Things kinda got better when we left to do visits with a member and he showed us some cool people. There's also this one super active family, (parents and 2 kids), that always go to church, but it turns out that the mom's not a member! So we went to go teach them and the oldest son also has a girlfriend that we taught, but she just kinda looked bored the whole time. (and on her phone) We tried to like, make conversation with her, but she gave us one word answers and went back to looking at her phone. I honestly don't understand why anyone would want to date anyone like that, but oh well! The mom knows so much stuff, I was surprised that she's not a member. She's even been to the temple when the family goes! (didn't go in of course but you know, looked at the gardens and stuff). The husband says that she was raised in a super Catholic family and she feels like she can't betray her family traditions and stuff. (There are a lot of Virgin Mary photos in their house). We're gonna work hard with that family, because, how hard could it be to baptize someone who already goes to church every Sunday?

There is literally 0% chance that this mission will get iPads within the next 30 years. The cell phones we use are old Nokia phones from the 90's and we can't even take them out of the house because they always get robbed. Here in Colombia, Apple products are way more expensive than Android stuff (even though in the US it's like the same) So having anything Apple is a sign of being super rich. Walking around with an iPad would be like wearing a sign on my neck that says, "hey please rob me!" Also, I don't think that I would even like teaching with an iPad. 

We were gonna celebrate the 4th of July by eating hamburgers and stuff, but the zone leaders said that we were gonna go play soccer again. So we didn't really do anything to celebrate, but I am wearing red white and blue! I love and miss you America.

I love you guys too I guess