Week 58 we made a baptismal dress out of a pillowcase

Wow that is awesome sounds like a super great week! That is way cool that jared made the bidwell team I know he will do awesome ! And that is awesome that Jacob is doing so well in Seminary . Way better than I did my first year, I really dont remember a lot from the first year , but I'm really glad that jacob is learning a lot , and has been setting a great example for everyone as the oldest in the house ! AFY sounds so fun! 

San Franisco did you guys get a chance to go to a 49ers game jaja:) 

Thanks mom for the Birthday wishes!

okay so this week in Chia...

Martes: we had our ward party. It went super well , there were even a few investigators that showed up , the Christmas play was super good , and we even did a christmas song with the sister missionaries , and my comp forgot one of the parts so me tocó solo :P ! But it went well. then we went with the ward to deliver Gifts and sing to an orphange which was spectauclar , it was truly amazing to share something with them , and hear there comments about the true meaning of Christmas and their testimonies of the Savior!

Miercoles we had are Zone conference which went well. We talked a lot about Faith and hope which was cool , then we did some practicing for a song that we are going to sing at the Christmas party that we are having Saturday with the President. 

Jueves: we had a really good leson with J_, and also with a less active , who even made it to church , which was awesome! Also we had a lesson with A_ and Investigator , and her family it was super cool and they all accepted the baptismal invatation! So that was super cool , and the spirit was so strong!

Viernes : Well lunch was canceled on us so what did we eat you know it pizza! jaja

Then we had intercambios, I was with another elder , but we had a super good lesson about the Plan of salvation , and they want to come to church , to learn except they had to go to  Bogota this week to pick up a few things so they weren't able to make it. 

Sabado : well were basically helping the sister missionaries with their baptisms , giving interviews, and all that good stuff, then they asked us at the last minute if we had baptismal clothing , so we ran to the house to check only to find out , we didnt have any for the little girl that is 8 years old. So my comp following spirit and using his talents , turned a pillow case into a dress. It actually wasnt too bad! But the baptism was awesome , J_ and D_ came . Then the dad of the childern came, who isnt a member and even began to cry. The spirit was so strong . I havent felt so much Joy in a long time ! 

So today , well played some soccer , then had to go to the house early because they are fixing the bathroom , but that went well , and then of course more pizza! :) 

I hope all is going well back home , and that you are all enjoying the chirstmas season , and remebering the true meaning of Christmas! :) 

I love you all so much ,

Elder T. Fuerte:) 

Ps we are able to use skype 24 25 or 26 I dont know if you have a a day that works best for you ?

Week 57

thanks mom for the email it is really great to here about everything back home , and Im glad all is going well , even if you did get in accident ( was it with the car or the suburban?) jaja Anyways that is awesome to here how good the PV soccer team is doing , and that you are all enjoying the christmas season! 

Anyways so the start of chirstmas season here in colombia..

Martes ,well nothing to exciting happened , we had a few good lessons this day.

Miercoles: Well we had our district meeting , we talked a lot about the importance to be submissive and humble , so that was good , and than we had a  traditional dish from Ecuador which was good , and then we made  smores jaja super awesome !!We had a really good lesson J_  one of the less actives in our ward , we are really working with her husband and duaghter , because they aren't  members, but we watched the videos ha nacido un Salvador , so that was really cool to kick off the Christmas season!

Jueves: we had concilio with President, which went well we talked a lot about the story of Nephi , and how , at first all of Lehis family had faith to leave to the wilderness  even Laman and lemuel , however when trials came , the differnce was Nephis faith grew while , the others like Laman , diminshed litlle by little , so that was really interesting! I wasnt feeling to well , from being in meetings all day , but the next day I felt beter.

Viernes : was super interesting, so we had a good day conatcting in the street also we met a family that was reference give to us by a joven , they are really great , and want to learn more , they bascially want to learn, more from the example thet this young man from the church , he showed so that was cool .You  never know who is watching your example! Well also this day we were attacked by a dog which was super intense. My Comp fell down on a bunch of bricks , and bruised his tail bone , I managed to hit the dog with my scripture bag, and then my comp , with a brick , and my comp has phobia of dogs, so that even made it worse , but in the end , niether one of us was biten . How ever the lady who was an investigator , doesnt want us to come teach her anymore , because we hit the dog :P oh well , you win some you loose some. 

Sabado: not much happened because my comp can barely walk so most of the time we were in the house , we did have a good mexican lunch from the members! 

Domingo : was good to hear the talks , but after church once again in the house , because my comp cant walk , but is getting better. 

Hoy : well we didnt do much , we went to the church , where i played soccer by myself while my comp wrote letters to his family , then we went back and I slept for about an hour which was great . 

Well I hope all is going well back home , and that you can all find ways to serve others this chirstmas season ,and share , the message of the Savior , with everyone! I love you guys so much , also thanks you so much for the package , I really enjoy it ! 

Have a great week !

Love ,

Elder T. Strong

Week 56

Wow sounds like a crazy busy and exciting week. Hunting so lucky , and thanksgiving , and football , how so great ! 

Okay so this week in Colombia. 

Miercoles : we went to tabio which is kind of in the mountians because we had  lunch with a member it was super cool and way peaceful , and reminded me a lot of  home , and plus they live in the country so that ws a little  piece of home :) 

Thanksgiving. Well lets just say it wasn't the best thanksgiving , but Im truly thankful for my comp and for all that God has given me, because in the moring while we were planning , I was looking back on the people we have been teaching and realized many of them arent progressing , and so then I began to cry , thinking all my work for the past 3 months here has been for nothing, and then dark thoughts entered my mind , and I was questioning myself why am i here if Im not doing anything , if they arent progressing , so my comp helped a lot  by telling me to relax then he told me something that I cant forget, Elder Strong ... go pray to God ... only he can truly help you. At first I didnt want to because of my pride, but after crying for about another 20 mins I went to the back room and prayed. I didnt have a super big experience or anything , but it did bring a sense of peace to my sorrowed soul, which is what I needed. 

Friday: Well my comp and I were both struggling spiritually these past few days and Satan has beeb getting at us putting doubts in our minds, so went to the MPs house where we were able to talk with him for  a little bit , and he  shared a great scripture with me in Alma 8 :14 ,15 ,16 which went really well , also my comp gave  me a great section to read in D&C 31 

later in the night we had an activiity and we watched Meet the Mormons which was great even if we didn't  have a great turnout it still went well which is wierd , because in the CCM we watched  it for thanksgiving also, so that was cool.

Saturday : T_ had his Bday which went super awesome we passed by to eat cake , and we shared a message with them , then I gave him a car with Hulk on it , because he calls me Elder Hulk jaja , so that was awesome, then we had to go to Bogota to interview!

Sunday: Well lets just say God answers prayers, because we have been praying so hard that this family of 7 could come to church , and they all came plus some of our less actives to it was way awesome , and to top it off Elder Godoy was there too! He talked a lot about the Sabbath day, it is a really big deal right now here in Colombia!!!

Today : we went and climbed a mountian with the district which went well .

Anyways thanks so much for the email , ; IM so thankful for the family I have to support me, and Im very thankful to be serving the Lord to bring other families togther! I love you all so much have a great week!!!

Elder T. Strong

Week 55

From: Tyler Strong <tyler.strong@myldsmail.net>
Date: November 24, 2015 at 3:03:59 PM PST
To: Sandi Strong <walnutbears@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Weekly update

Wow sounds like things are going just great back home, sorry I didnt  write yesterday , it is because we switched our pday for today to go to the temple as a zone. Which went rather well the Temple was amazing and to be there with all the zone it was  even better, I was definately able to feel the spirit so strong, and well it was just a great refresher in general.

Okay well, Miercoles we had  our  district meeting which went alright, we talked about contacting and finding new people to teach which is not one  of my strong points, but you guys no that , being not the talkative type, but all vamos poco a poco. 

Jueves went alright kind of a slow day in reality, we did our weekly planning which went good , and then the people came to install curtians for the apartment , well lets just say it took quite a while like 4 hours to do all that , but the lady who does it all is miembro , and she was nice enough to invite us out to lunch , since we didnt have lunch that day so that was great. Also there was a lot of rain it was pouring cats and dogs here which was crazy, but cool , luckily the curtians saved us from getting to wet this day jaja. 

Viernes , we had a lesson with J_and D_ , which went really well , and the Spirit way strong ,the only problem is people have the agency to choose and well J_know it is all true and everything , on the other hand D_ doesnt want to believe and doesnt want to get married, so that was kind of bummer , so we will see how that goes , but right now not to great. 

Sabado went pretty well, we had a lot of good conatcts in the street one who had a dog the other , as we were making an agenda for our activity this Friday to watch  meet the mormons, and others contacts when we ate an arepa filled with queso , but they were all super great conatcs in the street so that was cool. Then during lunch it was super good, and the brother , was giving us advise about our lives after the mission jaja , that was interesting .

Domingo. we had stake confernce which went really  well it was great they talked about everything , from the importance of the roles of mothers , and how great of a Role the women in the church  play, also about the Sabath Day, and also about the importance on every member a missionary. and they share a really great phrase from Elder Bednar about how the missionaries are full time techers and member are full time finders so that was really cool , so I hope you all back home are trying to find others who need the gospel.

I love you all so much have a great week ; share the Gospel,

Also an  obedient mormon is happy:)

Elder T. Strong

Week 54

That is great to hear all is going well back home in Chico, and that everyone is enjoying playing basketball and other activities in school! Also it is great to hear that Seth has arrived in Spain , and sounds like he is already having the best time ever so that is great! 

Okay so this week in Colombia...

Miercoles- We had our district meeting which went well , we talked a lot about the atonement of Christ, so that was super good, then we were able to try different foods from different countries so that was also good!

Jueves- we had our studies and our planning, it was a great morning because during the studies we read a bunch of scriptures of how God send angels to helps us with this work and that they are preapring people to recieve the gospel.Then we had a lesson with Family R_ about the atonement because recently the dad had a brother who passed away , so that was kind of tough, but the spirit was so strong. Also we had another great lesson with C_  and his family they are recent converts so that was cool to have a lesson with them, then the rest of the day we didnt have much luck because of the soccer game , because everyone watches the soccer game here, even if Colombia isnt doing so good right now jaja.

Viernes: we had a lesson with J_ and D_  they are doing alright, but she doesnt want to get married yet so we are working on that little by little. Later we had a lesson with D_ he is super awesome young man well young adult he is less active the only member of his family but he wants to come back to church so we are helping him take steps back to the path to God. Then later that night it was super awesome , because  we didn't have much luck than we had the idea to visit a less active member ,as we got there the husband who isnt a member showed up with their duaghter too, and we were able to have a super great lesson about the restoration so that was way awesome so we will see what will happen with them. 

Sabado - we were basically in Bogota all day dealing with problems that two missionaries had , they had a fight so we had a long talk with them about obedince forgiveness , love , charity, the atonement it went well , but they had to have interviews with the president. 

Domingo - well i gave a talk so nervous , and it didnt go at all well ,I couldnt even find the words to speak it was bad, but very humbling for me , basically God telling me that I need a lot more practice with spanish, I dont know but it has definately been a struggle for me through out the whole mission , but we will see how it comes-

Lunes we had cambios, so we had to coordinate  all that yesterday and so we didn get any sleep at all and that is not a lie , my comp and I slept 2 hours on the hard floor , so we are both pretty tired today, but im just glad it is done with and we dont have to worry about for another 6 weeks jaja. 

So that was basically a summary of the week , I love you all so much and it is great to hear bout evrything .

Love Elder Strong

Also could  you send me a calnder but home made with photos of the fmaily , and also the xxl white TSHIRT for a member. 

thanks have a great week 

scripture DyC 60: 2-3

Week 53

wow sounds like a crazy week that you guys had , Im glad that jacob is doing a lot better , and that there wasn't a tornado or anything,that is cool that they had a baptism, and also about the light of the Son that is super great! 

So this week we did a lot of traveling back in forth to different areas helping the Elders that are leaving the mission and their companions to be with other missionaries as they wait a week for cambios to get their new companions. Also with the little time we've had in our area we have been working a lot with less active members , it way great to see some of them with deisres to come back and change. We even had 4 that came to church on Sunday. So lately we have had quite a few baptisms these last 2 weeks 7 in our zone, so that was awesome , 4 of them from the sister misionaries in our ward, and they are going to have 4 more this month! Anyways Monday we went to a salt mine which was pretty cool and excitng, then we ate buffalo burgers which were good.

sorry it is kind of short , but I love you all so much, keep up the good work , share the gospel with everyone , and be an example of the believers ,Love,

Elder Strong