Week 21

This week was really good can't complain. And no more moths but I found a couple of roaches during the week and it sounds like Jeremy is having the same bug problem. My district includes our companionship and 2 other campanionships. One of the elders was from my CCM group. Well the members don't  feed us dinner, because there really isn't a dinner here, but they do feed us lunch, which for the most part is good menos a few times (see jueves). But lots of members give us jucie when we visit them, one thing I really like about here is the Juice is super good!  

      General confence is this weekend super exciting , and that is cool that the message for the womens broadcast was on families, because they are definitely super important and a tremendous blessing. But I'm gald everything else is going well for you guys and that you are staying busy, and feeding the missionaries too, I can guarantee they appreciate it a lot. 

Anyways so this is what my week looked like:

Martes:My feet y back hurt for some reason idk what from,  but it hurt to walk , but I continued through the day, because there is no time to rest in the mission world. Also this day we had a lunch at a restruant becuase  a meber paid in advance for us , pero no, entonces we had an expesive lunch. later in the day was much better, we had a couple lessons with and*er , and his sister, because right now he is a menos activo, but his whole family is comming back to church(we rescued his dad last week ) but we had a lesson with him about the priesthood, and then with his sister( not a member) we started with lesson 1 , and she is super excited to be baptized so that is awesome, they are a super cool family. 

miercoles: We had a lesson with a young man named Sam*i another less active , he wants to come back also , and is thinking about serving a mission too. Also we had a lesson with Edis*n(  brother to Anderson) and we talked about the priesthood with him too and watched a super cool video about serving a mission by Thomas s Monson.

Jueves: For lunch we had some more cow stomach but this time I passed on it , because I didn't want to risk getting sick again, but my comp was happy to eat it . Also I got my haircut, much needed ( view photos). Also after our meeting for the week with the mission leader of the ward, we were walking down the street and ran into like an army of kids playing in the street which was super cool , becuase we were able to talk with them and help them a little with english so that was fun, it reminded me of playing night games in Florida with all the other kids on the ranch.

Viernes: We had a meeting with President, and he talked about the importance of the book of mormon, and also a new thing for easter called well in spanish , ¨Gracias a que Él Vive¨. Then later we were able to watch meet the mormons which was super cool! Idk if you guys were able to watch it but it is super neat!

Sabado: Lots of our lessons were cancelled , however while contacting we found a brother and sister who came up to us and asked if we were mormons , so we said yes, do you know us ? they said that they had a Mom and a sister who are mormon so we went and visted with them and the mom was thrilled to see us, becuase I guess they haven't been back to church in years, and haven't had the missonaries over either so that was super cool! 

Domingo ; well im pretty sure my comp is always running late , he takes more time than me to get ready I know what youare thinking dad is that even possible) but yeah it is , we were llike 20 mins late , but I was praying super hard in my heart that the sacrament hadn't happened yet, and luckily it hadn't because they had a lot ofannouncements  , but defenitely a tender mercy! Also we have been working a lot more with members this week so that is good ! 

lunes : super good today played some soccer, and ate pizza ! perfecto!

I hope all is well back home , you guys are always in my prays , I love you all

so much , also brothers , be good for mom , because she deserves it ! 

                  Elder Strong :)

 

Week 20

Wow sounds like an exciting week ! Hiking rappelling and ziplineing, super cool! And to top it off you get to go to Logans Homecoming !

Alright so this week was pretty good, Lots of working and everything else , but overall it was a good week! :)

Mer- We had a zone conference in Buca. that means traveling on crowded buses again yeah ! But the meeting was good it was about findning more people to teach. Also I received my package after the meeting finally, and super great letters from the priest ! :)Also we had a noche de barrio , that didnt go so well there was only like 20 people maximo that showed up.

J- en la manana we went to Buca. because my comp had to interview one of the other missionaries for a baptismal interview. Also it rained a lot this day , like a lot! Then later in the tarde we had a lesson with Ivan , about the sacerdocio and it went super well, he has lots of desires to help his family come back to church and everything , he is so awesome he even assisted us to our next lesson with a menos activo family and bore a super strong testimony about God answering prayers .

V- We had fish for lunch and I got one fish bone stuck between my teeth that hurt like crazy but luckily I got it out pretty fast.Also we had a really great lesson with Claudia and her daughter about the restoration, then a lesson with Family Mendez about fe, and yep more rain , what is nice is that it isn't as hot when it rains however I don't think my clothes will ever get dry. 

S- really good lesson with Alex a new investigator, then we didn't have an appointment for lunch so we cooked ourselves. I made mac and cheese and guess what..... It came out good, not like when Baily and I made it that one day jaja. We also had a really good lesson with another  new investigator Lora and her Duaghter tatiana, but it was kind of awkward because I left like a ton of stuff at their house , so we had to return and get it, but other than that it was good! 

D- so I had to give a talk today, and didn't even know about it until Saturday night, this is pushing it normally in english but in spanish !!!!! It was on the attributes of Christ , I just hope evryone could understand me- 

l- so today we finally got to play soccer,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes ! soccer is the best!

So this what life has been like here in Colombia , I hope all is going well and everyione is safe and having a good time ,I love you guys! You guys are awesome! :)

 Love Elder Strong

Week 19

Alright so first my Companion: Elder Henriquez , and he is from Chile. He actually knows English really well so that is helpful at times , but I have committed myself to use as much spanish as possible. Im serving in the Pideacuesta area which is out side of the big town. No pictures yet but I bought a camera today, so hopefully soon ! Anyways it is way beautiful here in this area , only it is flippin hot!  Super Humid as well! I cant sleep with a sheet or anything. Our house is pretty old and dirty like it is kind of gross at times, and lots of ants! but other than that it is good , pretty big for the 2 of us. 

Anyways here is what happened this week. 

Martes: Unpacked , had lunch at a members house with an amazing view because it was on top of a mountain too bad I just now got a camera . Also we had an erthquake so that was cool 1st day in the area, we were in a store and then all the sudden things started to shake. My comp and I just kind of stood there but I guess lots of people in Colombia arent used to earthquakes so many were like panicking, but it wasnt to huge and there wasnt really any damage or injuries so that is good. Also when we got back we found a cockroach in the houes that was gross! 

Meircoles: Disrtict meeting, yep My comp is the District leader again! Super Crowed buses here like crazy no personal space what so ever , So much for keeping an arms distance away from missionaries . It also rained super hard this day we were soaked head to toe, like we took a shower with our clothes on. 

Jueves did some much needed luandry , hey we have a washer now ! ; also met with some new investigators and had a lesson with Bishop , with Erika and her husband our new investigdors. Then we asked them how they could know if the things we taught were true , and the husband replied that we have to pray so we invited them to read the BOM and pray about it and they accepted so we have a cita with them tonight so vamos a ver.

Viernes so this week we have been working with Ivan a menos activo to rescue him this week . He is super cool , and wants his family to be together for ever , so that is amazing , and the lessons are going super well with him. 

sabado: well I climbed in the shower only to find a surprise waiting for me a giant moth , super huge like as  big as both my hands spread out , and I have pretty big hands I almost died form shock, but on a bright note it woke me up for the day. Also we had lasagna for luch that was super good almost good as Dads but not quite. 

Domingo almost late for church, but we made it . Church here is at 8amSmall ward like half the size of my last one , but is it is good we have another set of elders in this ward as well. The bishop is super cool here he is awesome , and so is the ward mission leader thay are both super great guys ! 

Hoy: we went on a hike to waterfalls , sooooooooooooooooooo beautiful , it was amazing , sadly I bought my camera afterwards :( 

Well things I'm grateful for , washer , new camera, this experince to serve others, the BOM 

Smile ; the water falls , and everybdoy panicking about a small earthquake. 

 haven't received a package yet hopefully soon though ! 

Go Vikes! 

Love you guys it is great to hear from you and see that you are doing well !

I hope you have a great time on spring break and your truip !! be safe!

                                           Elder Strong ! :)

Week 18 crazy week

Alright this week has been really crazy with Elder Martinez going home. I was with Elder Tipton and the zone leader Elder Castrejon for a few days. 

Martes: we had a super good district meeting on Faith and Alma 32, it was super good. Then our lunch appointment canceled on us, so we went back to the resturant. After that we did a lot of walking because no one was home. That always happens when I am with a zone leader. 

On Jueves we watched two hours of the district videos to finish our 12 week training. No more district videos! After that we had a leccion with a new member in Elder Tipton's area. There is also a dog of one of the members in his area named Tobias but I call him 4 because of the movie Divergent. Haha

Viernes: we got to ride a two story bus from Duitama to Sogamoso because we had to drop off the zone leader. Now it is just Elder Tipton and I. We had a good day, we got cupcakes. We got a little lost but eventually found our way, and had a super good leccion with a daughter of an investigator family. We invited her to read the libro de mormon and invited her to be baptized. She accepted the invitation that was awesome. Then we had Noche de Hogar also which was cool and exciting. 

Sabado: we did some service in Duitama. We started a working on a foundation for a house, by digging trenches and a lot of it was pretty rocky, so we had to use pick axes to remove some of the rocks. They say to build your house upon a good foundation even if it is hard work. We got apple pie today! This lady that was in Elder Tipton's  Area used to live in the states and learned how to make American desserts. The pie was really good. 

Domingo: this day started crazy and finished crazy. The first thing that happened was I was asked to talk in sacrament at the very last minute, I had no idea what to talk on, so guess what I spoke on? That's right missionary work! To be more exact I talked on member missionary work. The talk went a lot better than I thought it would. Down here it was the day of the women, so mom I hope you had a great day! I love you so much! Later we had a lesson with the Gutierrez family and we set up Noche de Hogar with them for Friday, then another Noche de Hogar for this Monday with some less actives members. Right as we were going to bed we got a call from the mission president and he asked if we would go give a sister missionary a blessing because her niece died in a motor cycle accident, so at 11:00 that night we went to the other side of Sogamoso and gave her a blessing. We got home around midnight and called the zone leaders to let them know we were back at the apartment. He then told us that he had the transfers in his hand, so he read them to us. I am getting transferred to Bucaramanga on Monday. That night I stayed up packing and eating all the food I just bought. What is really sad is that they are taking the Elders out of this area. We were so close with Elizabeth, and Jonathan...... I guess the lord has other plans. Hopefully the Hermanas will be able to work with them. 

Well I am here in Bucaramanga with Elder  Henriques de Chile. He seems really cool.  It is also really hot here! It is so hot here, I am sweating in my sleep. 

Well that has been my crazy week! I love you guys! 

Love Elder Strong

Week 17

I forgot my notes at the apartment, so this weeks letter will probably be a little shorter than normal, do lo siento. Yo tengo la culpa. 

We have a new place we go to for lunch now. We go to a members house instead of the resturant. The second time we went to their house they gave us cow stomach, but I didn't know what it was until after lunch when my comp told me. Whatever you do don't eat it. It didnt agree with my stomach very well at all. We were also able to go to the country and visit a family for Noche de Hogar. We had a great lesson with them, on the way home I hit my head on the ceiling of the bus. The buses are pretty short down here in Colombia. 

This is my comps last week. He gave a really good lesson on magnifying our callings as missionaries. We have been meeting with a Menos activo this week and sharing the gospel to help increase his testimony some more. 

Also this week we had the chance to meet with Elizabeth and help her with her english. She wants to go to the states pretty soon to work. We also shared a message about how God helps us in every aspect of our lives, not just with gospel related things. 

We were also able to visit with Jonathan at the beginning of the week, and talk about why it is important to read the Book of Mormon and pray. I just hope that he has been keeping up on the work we have given him. We haven't been able to visit him much this week, and he didn't come to church on Sunday either. 

We are working with the Mantilla family., who live super high on a hill, that you have to climb a billion stairs to get there. They are a really cool family, they have faith, but lack the work that goes along with the faith. They also live pretty far from the chapel. 

Friday we had Noche de Hogar and talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Gutierez family. Then we had pizza and ice cream with the other Elders in Sogamoso because Elder Tipton's comp is going home also. 

We did some service on Saturday with Machetes again cutting branches and now my arm is super sore. Hermando gave us some ice cream cocnut bars which were good. 

We also had a lesson with the Tejedor family about faith and works. Then a lesson with Maria who is having some money problems and is struggling with her testimony also. 

Well that has pretty much been my week. It was my comps last week, he gets home on Seth's birthday,  that is pretty cool. 

Things that made me smile this week:

1) Elizabeth coming to church

2) we had pizza and ice cream

3) Jason's mission call

One thing I am grateful for is my great first companion! 

Well I love you all so much! Thanks for everything and your great examples!  Have a fantastic week! 

Love Elder Strong

Week 16

This is how week 16 was

Lunes: I was able to give a priesthood blessing, it was a little difficult figuring out what to say in Spanish, and then translating my thoughts into spanish, the spirit was super strong so that was awesome. 

Martes: we had a district meeting on the attributes of Christ which was super cool. Then we pretty much walked all day because our appointments fell through. Then we went to the church so my companion could interview two investigators that the sisters are teaching. After that we had salchicpapa which is super good. 

Jueves: laundry, then after lunch we took a long bus ride to Bogota. When we arrived in Bogota we went to Titan Plaza which is a big mall and found a Papa John's pizza. That was the best. 

Viernes: we got ready, then took a taxi to the chapel in Bogota to have a meeting with Elder Godoy from the 70. On the way to the chapel we were rear ended by a truck. Nothing happened it was just a fender bender, but the drivers got out and started yelling at each other. Good thing they told us to leave early for the meeting. The conference was really good he talked about his conversion story and a lot about marriage for some reason. Which made my comp even more trunky. He goes home March 7. 

Sabado: we gave a few priesthood blessings. One was to a little baby in the hospital, and then the other was to a grandpa of one of the members. I really enjoy being able to give priesthood blessings, and knowing that I am worthy to use that precious power, to bless the lives of others. 

Well that has pretty much been my week . Jonathan still is struggling. He didn't  make it to church again, but we are going over to visit him soon, most of our investigators are not progressing for one reason or another. We are not giving in to  discouragement. 

I am glad to hear everything back home is going well. Have a great week, and share the gospel! 

Love you guys! 

Love  Elder Strong