Week 42, I had an awesome last week in Piedecuesta!

On Aug 25, 2015, at 1:45 PM, Tyler Strong <tyler.strong@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Okay so this week in Colombia 

Martes: Well we had lunch and Elder Picay gave me a United States handkerchief so that was cool, also later we went to visit D_  and had a good lesson with him about the book of mormon, which was awesome, then we went and visited the family G_ who are references from the family V_. They are super awesome , too bad I wont be there to see them progress. 

Miercoles: We had a lesson with E_ and J_, which went well, still working on getting the papers to get married. Then we had the interviews for the baptism of the family S_ they both passed so that was awesome! Then we had a special consjeo de barrio ( ward council) to talk about the up coming ward conference   which is going to be way cool with high expectations. 

Jueves: No planning again:( Then we had almuerzo con the familia P_, then there was a big storm it was like a mini tropical storm for 3 hours , then we went to visit the familiy S_ to thank them for thier work with the family S_  because they gave us the reference, so while we were there her sister who lives across from them, had her baby, so once again we had the privilege to carry her sister up (who was my teacher in the CCM cool side note) up 5 flights of stairs! Round number 2 if you remember from a previous email I sent.

Sabado we had the baptisms so most of the day we were busy with that , it was super awesome the first time I was able to preform the baptism in the mission so that was kind of cool , that I could do that right before I left. 

Anyways so I arrived here safe in Chia, it is pretty cool , but being Zone Leader is a bit overwhelming,  it still really hasn't hit me yet, but I did have to give a counsel to the leaders of the distirct so that was interesting because , I haven't even been a district leader, this is all so new, but with faith in God, I shall go forth, plus I have a super great campion Elder Herbas from Bolivia he is super great.

So far things are good, it is a lot colder here, but that means hot water to shower with jaja :) 

I love you guys and hope you have a great week,

con mucho amor,

Elder Strong 

Week 41 I love my area, and the people!!

Wow that is crazy that school is already starting back up , I feel like summer just started, but WOW! And Jacob is a freshmen . I remeber super clearly when I was  a freshmen, that is crazy it has been like 5 years !!! And Jared is in Jr High insane! Everyone is growing up so fast! Dont worry you will recieve a lot of emails from Seth about how he wish he would have prepared more jaja, hows his spanish ? Nope, I don't know if I will get transferred next week. We find out  the night before , or early the day of if we are being transfered so stay tuned, if I don't  write until Tuesday you know why. 

Okay so this week in Colombia, 

Martes we did service for the Family P_, because they moved houses, which is kind of wierd , because they just moved from Bogata, but they are still in our ward , so that is good. It was a lot of work moving everything down 5 flights of stairs, with only my Compaion and I there to help. Lots of sweating , and then the next day I was super sore! Anyways later after lunch there is a man who lives close to us , and he fixes clothes if they need to be repaired, so he was fixing some of my companions clothes , so we started a conversation about the church , and found out that he is testigo de Jehova , but we were able to have a super cool conversation , about the Gospel , he is really respectful about our Religon, so that is way cool! Later we had a lesson with the Family B_ they are less actives , and the oldest daughter brought a friend , and she wants to serve a mission ! Then we has a lesson with the Family D_ it has been a while , but it went really well.

Miércoles: We had a reunion de Zona which went well they talked about the importance of planning and how it is something sacred.Then they gave us the Lihanonas of these past couple meses which are tan trunky because they talk all about marriage and the family jaja. Anyways later in the night we had our english class which more people came to so that was good. Then we had a noche de Hogar with Familia S_ less actives , and we brought E_ too , it went well! 

Jueves Not much happened , I had a long planning session  by myself of course:p , Then we had a lesson with E_ y J_  which went well, they are still waiting on papers so they can get married.

Viernes: We had a lesson with H_, then in the night with los D_ with the comapny of the bishop so that was cool , then we had a lesson with E_ , an old investigator, and he has been struggling with depressino or well mas with feeling content , and feeling happiness, because he is divorced and lives alone. So we were sharing things to lift his spirit, then all at once, I remembered , in our Sunday school like 2 years ago with Sister Barton how we were talking about the Grace of Jesus Christ so I shared how we can find esperanza en Cristo, it was way cool , then we gave him a blessing of strength to help him. 

Sabado we set up a bapitsimal date with family S_  for this Saturday!

Domingo : I had to give an impromptu talk on the spot and in spanish , so that was interesting , luckily I had a lot of help from the spirit! 

Hoy : we played Futbol !!! Then we had lunch with the family P_ they made super good pasta. Also while we were waiting for people to show up to play futbol two cops came up to us in there motorcylce , and then searched us for weapons, and drugs so that was kind of random and wierd, but okay, anyways that was my week. 

I hoep you guys have a great first week at school , and that you do well with all of it. Thanks for the updates it is great to hear from you guys. 

Love you all so much ,

Elder Strong :)  

Week 40 I love Sunday's

Thanks Mom you are the BEST !!!! Lava

 beds were so much fun , that was a great activity, and I was just thinking about how Bishop Meyer shared the scripture in Genesis where God created the light. He had all of us shut our lights off, so it was super dark, that was way cool and spiritual! I understand how Jeremy feels jaja sometimes I wonder the same thing , but they really need it. I also Heard Jeremy had a baptism so cool!!! Way to go kayden I knew you could go to your primary class. Bien Hecho !!! :) It I hope she can work things out and be baptized !Colton is getting married ? to who? that is way awesome !!

Anyways so this week was interesting I guess really slow....

Martes: Well we basically didn't have any lessons until the night , where we visited a family who are members, the mom just got back from the hospital, where she had a big surgey, and is lucky to be alive because she lost 5 liters of blood! But before she got sick the other Elders were able to give her a blessing , and she has really great faith in the priesthood power so that was cool to see that miracle. Anyways later we had a lesson with Erika y Julio, which went well. Oh the day before we had a Noche de Hogar with like all of Erika's Family , there was a total of 15 of us!!!! And the bishop and his wife were able to come with us, it was so great! 

Miércoles: We had our district meeting, then after lunch we had an actividad where  we basically went to the área of the Sister missionaries to contact people because they are having trouble finding people to teach, so we went and did that until 5pm which wasnt the best use of time , but we did find some poeple that they can teach. Anyways so then we had our english class, which no one showed up to , so we are probably going to stop teaching it if no one shows up again. Then we had a Noche de barrio which was good.

Jueves: well no planning again because my comp slept in , I Guess he hasn't been feeling good, but he is not sick , he said he recieved some bad news, I asked if it was about his family he said no ,but didn't   tell me what it was. So I dont know what to do. Because he sleeps really late , and goes to bed really late. So anyways my morings are basically the story of tangled , where she cooks , reads , cleans , and does everything she can possibly think of, lets just say my bathroom is pretty clean :p 

Viernes: Erika is sick with the mosquito disease, which has been going around , I think I had it a week ago. Then in the night we had the show de talentos which was cool , so we were in charage of somehting but we didn't plan on anything , but luckily some had a guitar and my comp knows  how to play it so he played and I attempted to sing, but he only knows a few songs so we sang Photograph , well attempted to sing it . It didnt go so well , to let you know how bad it was , after we finshed a big storm came and then lighting struck and the lights went out, yeah it was pretty bad jaja :P 

Sabado we had a lesson with Soraida , she is really awesome and has a lot of faith , she knows the church is true, so hopefully she will be baptized in these upcoming weeks! Then we had a lesson with Family Peña which went well , they gave us really good pasta!

Domingo: So church started and we had like no investigators there, anyways during the sarament hymn Erika y Julio showed up with basically everyone who was present at the Noche de Hogar the previous monday! So that was way cool to have all her family there , and they alll enjoyed it !They even stayed for all three hours! Also we had quite a few other ivestigators attend! Also Anderson Nuñez gave a talk and he brought a friend to church so that was awesome ! Also in Gospel principels we talked about the gifts of the spirit so of course being the only Gringo I had to talk about the gift of Tongues go figure jaja, but it was good. Then in Preisthood we had a really good lesson about the role of the Father and Mother .

Hoy: we did absoultely nothing we stayed in the house all day because my comp didnt want to do anything , so I watched all the seminary videos about the Old testament and D&C so that was interesting I actually learned quite a bit , or remembered a lot of things that my seminary teachers taught me , so that was cool , but I was really bored being in the house all day !!! 

Anyways I hope you guys had a better more intertaining day than I did . Also I hope you guys can find time to enjoy your last week of summer vacation !! Make it count! I love you guys so much thanks for all the support! :) 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Strong:)

Week 39 communication is key!!

Thanks Mom for the advise , this week went a ton better in terms of things with my relationship with my Comp it was a lot better , I'm trying to focus on the things he does well , and remind myself that I'm not all that perfect in the eyes of God. So that has been helping me alot also I am talking a lot more with him , which has helped my Spanish too! 

Anyways this week in Colombia ...

Martes: we went to a restaurant for lunch I really don't like them here, but alright nos toca a veces. Then we had a couple of good lessons , then as we were leaving one , my pants got caught on a piece of metal sticking out of the wall tore a huge hole in my pants like 6 inches, so those pants are basically ruined.

Meircoles : I woke up feeling horrible during the night I had chills then a fever then chills again it was awful and pain en todo lado de mi cuerpo, dolor en la cabeza e en el estomago, y no tenia apetito para nada! But we had a Reunion de distrito so I had to go to that. But I was really not feeling well at all.Also in our meeting we basically had a Invetory as district because there have been a few issues mostly between our leader and the Hermanas, but it was over dumb things and after a hour or so they got it taken care of. Then we had our English class which my Comp taught because I was still not feeling well, so that was nice of him, then I bought everyone who showed up a small chorro , but they didn't  seem at all appetizing to me because I was sick :p  

Jueves : I was feeling worse on this day so  we didnt teach at all but we went to our meeting with our ward mission leader , then back to the house and I went to bed at 7 also I have been spending most of my money this week on Gatorade jaja.

Viernes: Feeling a lot better, we had lunch in the Mountians with the seminary teacher , she is way awesome , and wants the best for the youth. 

Sabado: My comp woke up early and we were able to study it was super awesome!!!!! Also for lunch we had lasanga , and dessert okay it was jello but it was really good! Oh and while I was sitting in my chair studying my plastic chair broke ! I must be getting bigger jaja, and gaining weight. Lol

Domingo : in church they talked a lot about Family home evening and how important it is , and also how we should have a family consejo (council) before to find out what are family needs and then have family home evening to meet certian needs of the family members so I thought that was pretty cool ! 

Lunes: We played some futbol with a couple of jovenes who wanted to play on the same cancha , so we shared , and we won nbd jaja , but it was fun, then we ate lunch at subway , then got ice-cream so it was a pretty good day. 

I hope you guys have a great , week enjoy swimming and everything else , thanks again for all the support and prayers they really do make a difference ! I love guys stay safe , have fun share the gospel ! 

love ,

Elder Strong:)

1Feeling better

2gatorade

3 peace when reading scriptures

4lasanga 

5church talking about FHE