Week 34

I hope Jared will feel better soon to! and Jacob! And have fun Jacob :) Working hard or hardly working Seth, we never got to leave early ;) Sounds like a fun Barbaque minus the wasp bite... 

Wow that is Crazy Melanie is coming home already, but that will be cool to hear from her, you will have to say hi for me. Where did Hayden serve? That is cool that the young women and young men sang that EFY medley for me! That's an awesome song and it would probably do the same to me if i was to watch it jaja! and tell her thanks for me. 

Have fun camping , sounds like it will be fun ! :) 

Anyways so this week was kind of crazy and cool and everything in between! 

Martes: I had intercambios with Elder Pincay and we went to the Bishops house and he lives on the side of a mountian, on a small farm so that was cool, it was super peaceful and reminded me a lot of home. Also later we got free empanadas from one of his investigators that was also really good!

Miercoles: I had to give a capacitación about Obedience it went well , Anyways Later we had a noche de barrio and we were in charge of it so we put together a little skit or play to show how the members could help the missionaries with the missionary work it went really well , except the turn out was really poor. And the 1st couple of people didn't arrive untli 30 min when it was supposed to start. 

Jueves: So we weren't having a lot of success during the day finding people to teach , and i was kind of getting stressed in my mind , then we recieved a calll from a member saying how his wife just had a baby and he needed some help, but didn't tell us exactly with what, so he said I'll come by and pick you up in my car. Anyways long story short, his wife was feeling really week , and couldn't walk, so we had to carry her up in a wheel chair 5 stories high!!! But it went well , and it felt good to do service to someone who really needed it! And her Baby is Super cute! 

Viernes; Colombia lost the game to Argentina , so my Comp was pretty happy , but I was kind of scared for his life being in Colombia and all! But we had to be in the house early because of the game. 

Sabado: We had a lesson with E*and read Alma 47 about Almakiah wanting to be king over all the armies, and we compared it to satan tempting us and making things seem not as bad as they are ,( so if you get the chance I would read it is super cool how well we can relate it to our lives! )

Domingo: Stake confrence went well E*y J*showed up. Most of the talks were about the Sabbath day , and also we had someone from the 70 speak he gave a really good talk about how we can help rebellious  childern , and how to be examples. 

Hoy : we didn't do anything really , because we couldnt play futbol :( 

Anyways I hope all is going well back home and that you guys have a great week! Also feliz Cumpleaños Papá !

things that made me smile , doing service, Jonathan almost officially rescued , A*

Nuñez saying he wants too serve a mission!!!

Love always.

Elder Strong:)

Week 33

Sounds like you guys had a pretty busy week filled with adventures. My shirts are doing alright they are more of a yellowish color though jaja. My shoes are holding up really well right now, but we will we see how long they will last , because 2 years is quite a while. Plane muesem sounds like a blast did Kayden and Josh enjoy it ? I hope grandpa will be able to recover , fast ! I wool definitely pray for them! Here they celebrate Father's Day but no one really does anything for it , I guess Colombia played a soccer game, but the ward didn't do anything special or anything. My health is normal I guess, no I haven't eaten anything to crazy, we a have a drink which, corn with leche, it is kind of gross. 

Martes: We had intercambios , I was our lider de distirct. 2 Gringos working together , but it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, we also had pizza that night , porque, yolo!

Miercoles: District meeting, we talked about this cool talk given by a mission president , called the 4th missionary I think . Also this day Colombia played aganist Chile in the Copa America, so we didn't  have  any lessons in the night , so we went back to the house and did our weekly planning. Oh Colombia Won (for Jeremy jaja) . 

Jueves: We had lunch with la familia B* they are the ones with the parrot, which came back! Blue is back from vacation in Rio jaja.Then we had a meeting with other preisthood leaders of the ward in the night, but only a few showed up,we talked  a lot about home teaching because it is kinda chi-chi o mas o menos, no one really does it. Then i got a hair cut which was good!

Viernes: we had our last meeting with the President. He leaves next week and our new President , President Laney is comming this week, so that will be kind of different , and a new change, but he will be our president to help us , and has been called to serve in our mission. He looks really young in the foto. Oh we also got a free ride to the meeting because we found a member who is a taxi driver, and he drove us 45 mins to our meeting the only bad part was that we shoved 6 missionaries into a small taxi kind of uncomfortable, but it was free so cantS

Martes: We had intercambios , i was our lider de distirct. 2 Gringos working together , but it was a lot of fun and i learned a lot, we also had pizza that night , porque, yolo!

Miercoles: District meeting, we talked about this cool talk given by a mission president , called the 4th missionary i think . Also this day Colombia played aganist Chile in the Copa America, so we didnt have kkie any lesson in the night , so we went back to the house and did our weekly planning. Oh Colombia Won (for Jeremy jaja) . 

Jueves: We had lunch wiht la familia Basto they are the ones with the parrot, which came back! Blue is back from vactions in Rio jaja.Then we had a meeting with other preisthood leaders of the ward in the night, but only a few showed up, we tallked alot about family home teaching because it is kinda chi-chi o mas o menos, no one really does it. Then i got a hair cut which was good!

Viernes: we had our last meeting with the President. He leaves next week and our new President , President Laney is comming this week, so that will be kind of different , and a new change, but he will be our president to help us , and has been called to serve in our mission. He looks really young in the foto. Oh we also got a free riide to the meeting because we found a member who is a taxi driver, and he drove us 45 mins to our meeting the only bad part was that we shoved 6 missionaries into a small taxi kind of uncomfortable, but it was free so cant complain. 

Sabado. We woke up and did some service for E* y J* they are moving houses, it was great to get out of the house and serve! We also had a super great lesson with a new family, they are references   from a member , they are aweome , really receptive, and they are married which is a lot harder than you think to find a married couple who aren't   members of the church in Colombia.

Domingo: another game of Colombia, so we didn't have a ton of success in the afternoon, but we were able to have a good lesson with C* , plus J* came with us so that was cool, Oh he has new calling as a ward missionary too! 

Hoy: we played micro, but i hurt my foot a little so we didn't play long , sad day I know. :( 

But I hope all is going well back home and that you guys are enjoying your summer, and hope Seth is working hard ! jaja 

Love you guys have a fantastic week!

love,

Elder Strong

 

Week 32

Sounds like an exciting week ahead! Awesomes photos both of the temple and the beach. I'm glad you guys made it safely to Washington with out anything going wrong. Temples are super cool, that was nice to stop and see the Portland temple on the way up to Washington. That is awesome that Jared was able to go for the first time super Legit. We are doing alright I guess, he still sleeps in a little, and I exercise, and idk if I could make breakfast for 2 people, when I can barely make it for myself jaja. That's funny that Kayden wanted Pickles  interesting, I haven't seen pickles here actually now that I think about it. 

So this week in Colombia went something like this....

Martes: We had lunch with family D*( part member family) it was good we also met his brother who went on a mission to LA so that was cool and now he is a english teacher. Also we were able to talk to I* N* and  his friend ,he seemed to be interested in the church , but he lives in the Campo where there aren't missionaries, super tenas! ; but maybe one day. Then we had a lesson with E* which went well, we read about weaknesses in Ether 12.

Miercoles: We had a Zone meeting, which was good, also got my package!!!! That was super awesome ! Muchísimas gracias!! Also a letter from grandma Strong so that was cool as well! Then we had a lesson with A* N* about the plan de Salvación it was good then he gave us pespi and we talked about Futbol for a little bit. Then we saw E* in the street, so we stopped and talked to her, she told us how much she thinks the church is good for her, and how she wants that for her family. Oh we also recieved a smoke detector for our house , but the warnings are in english which is good for me, but I thought it was kind of funny. 

Jueves: We had a lesson with a new investigator, and at the end of the lesson he asked how much does a Libro de Mormón cost. So we told him only a little of your time, so read it ! :) Also it was a mircale to find him because we were lost and as we were about to give up and move on, he was screamming for us from the top of his apartment, luckily God knew we were lost and could use help. 

Viernes: Intercambios with Elder Pincay, was good , but we only had one lesson ,with a less active member who never comes to church, but this sunday she was able to make it with one of her daughters so that was super great!!Then we spent the night with the other Elders and ate pizza. 

Sabado: We had a good lesson with Familia B* , about baptism , however they aren't married because he doesn't want to get married civilly, so we are working with that. 

Doming: The familia B* came to church, also E*,! IN sacrament they talked about Dia de reposo , with a super big partido de Futbol, later in the day, that was kind of funny I think a few members were kind of Sad about it jaja. 

Hoy: We played Fútbol with members , which was super fun !!

Thank you guys so much , I pray for you guys, love you all, and all that you have done for me, couldn't ask for a better family !

Elder Strong

Week 31

Wow that is super cool ! more than 100% seminary attendance that is legit now you just need to know the scripture mastery in Spanish jaja! Y Jacob that is super cool man, old testment has some pretty cool stories in it! Keep it up the scriptures reading it will help you in more ways in your life than you know!!Jared is growing up moving on , and hopfully he can make the basketball team because that would be super legit! Mom sounds like you will have another busy year , like the first year when we were in Chico, have fun :) Yeah the temples are so awesome defentiely a huge sense of peace , hope! Washington how fun , hopefully Kayden will be good ! I* N* is a member  he is super awesome , like the coolest Colombian I know ! Yeah the sun here is so strong , and bright it is kind of ridiclous sometimes. I think the package might come this week hopefully! 

Y tell Kayden to continue to obey his mom jaja :) 

Anyways this week in Colombia 

Martes: My new Companion is Elder Carballo he is from Argentina, for the most part I get a long with him, The only problem once again is he likes to sleep in too! I think I need to learn patience or somehting in the mission, also it has been kind of stressful taking the lead of the area, because right now he doesn't know anything about the area , so having to juggle all these things is a bit stressful but , so far not overwhemling. Anyways my comp has 5 siblings also he is the second. He likes to play guitar, and he also teaches really well. 

Miercoles: reunion de Districto was good , we talked about finding persons to teach by asking for references and all that so that was cool, one of my weaknesses for sure.Also we had a lesson with E* and N*, about the Libro de Mormon they agreeded to read it. Also with Familia A* we talked about the Evangelio de cristo and used an example of stairs that as we are climbing them it is hard but vale la pena , because the view is so much better! 

Jueves: Weekly planning, then we had a lesson with A* N* and his friend with J* basically all soccer fanatics so that is cool! and now we have a lesson with them tomorrow! Also we had a lesson with N* ( menos activa) we read mosiah 24 where it talks about how God will help us with our trial but not take our trials away from us at first, because we need trials to learn and grow. 

Viernes: lots of walking but we did have a good lesson with C*.

Sabado, lesson with J* then for a few minutes my Comp and him played a little Guitar, then we went an had a lesson wiht E* and J* and they also came to church the first he has made it so that was awesome!! Also we had a lesson with E* and we were reading the book of mormon when his sister and in the other room she started screaming , I thought she found a dead body or somehting , but no , she was screaming becuase Colombia scored a goal ! jaja 

Domingo : church was good, then after church  we had plan to visit menos activos but veryone we went to wasn't home :p , but it was good because one of the youth came with and we were able to talk about the mission with him, and he also tried teaching me a little portugese but I don't  remember a thing.  go figure. 

Hoy : we played soccer because it is tradation when it is festivo to play soccer with all the members! So that was awesome , then I came back to the house and slept for an hour! 

I hope you guys have an awesome week !

enjoy your first week of freedom from school jaja! You guys rock and I love you so much ! Thanks for all the prayers and Support! 

con mucho amor,

Elder Strong

Week 30 I am staying in my same area

That is a cool story of Brett , I hope he is doing well back at home! Yes I definitely have been doing a lot of praying in the mission more than I thought was possible jaja.The San Franisco trip sounds like a blast we will have to go when the 49ers are playing jaja !

Anyways so this week in Colombia: 

Martes:We had a lesson with G* and C* about the plan of savlation which went really good and we also read the baptismal interview questions with them too, I'm more than positive they are ready for baptism but , G* still says she is not quite ready. Then we went to visit a member and they were selling empanadas to go to the temple, so they gave us some they were really good! Then we had a llesson with O* which went well with the accompany of J*, but kind of awkward because when I was bearing my testimony about Joseph Smith, he had to leave(Satanas) . Then we had a reunion San Gil where we ate pizza with the other missionaries.

Miercoles: We had a lesson with D* y M* nuevos, it went alright , they had a ton of questions and we didn't have time to teach , but they asked for a book of Mormon so we gave them one, so we will see. 

Jueves: not much success , we did have a really good meeting with our new mission leader , a return missionary from Bolivia  Santa Cruz, so hopefully we will have more success! 

Viernes: Reunion de districto are last one before cambios, then we had a lesson with one menos activa about the histori de Alama the younger , and how even though he was doing bad things his father still did what was right and prayed for him and his well being. 

Sabado: we cleaned the house super well, still needs a lot of work but is a lot better than before I don't think the missionaries have tried to clean it for a year !!! Then it down poured with rain in the afternoon the streets were basically rivers, and we were soaked head to toe, and my rain jacket didnt help at all or water proof shoes jaja. :P 

Domigo: we had a really good lesson with family M* then with family B* about the word of widom which went well , and they also had like a billion cucarachas every were , but that is pretty normal here , but the dog was killing them all so that was cool!

Hoy Cambios !! So Im staying here , and my Comp is leaving to Burcana to be the Lider de Zona for his last two cambios. I am getting a new comp who is de Argentina , what I have heard about him is not the best but , I am refusing to judge until I meet him. so today we played soccer with a small ball in the house with the other elders because one of them is leaving to Bogata , so we just chilled with them for our last day together! 

I love you guys so much ! Have a great week thanks for all the support and council , I couldn't ask for a better family! Hey what is Seth's email or tell him to send me a short email so i have it . thanks ! 

Love, Elder Strong