ONE YEAR ON MY MISSION!

A HOUSE DIVIDED

 I want tater tots!!!!!!!! Being Zone Leader is good.  I'm still having to learn more and more about my duties but we´ll see about how to go about using the authority that I have been given.  I feel more stressed because I have to improve the area from what the other elders were doing.  Not that they were doing bad.   The goal is to leave the area better than I found it and I´m trying to find the way to do that every day.  We don´t teach as much as in Barranca but it's okay, it just means that we have to be more direct with the people here to find the people that want Christ in their lives.   The area isn't dangerous but we still have to follow the rules and be smart about what we do.  It's definitely bigger than Barranca and it's more city than country but there are farms in our area.  My companion and I are still getting to know each other but I think we´re going to get along great. We had some good stuff this week, the general authority president of area arrived to give us a good conference.  He was talking a lot with us on how to change the way to help the members help us.  But the best part was that we were able to listen to him for a good 4 hours to learn how to better search the scriptures to be like Bruce R. McKonkie, who was a beast, if you didn´t know that already. There is so much to learn from the scriptures and I know that if the people of the church and in the world would just read and learn more of the scriptures so many problems would be corrected.   We set a few baptismal dates with some families and all is good here.  No photos this week because I forgot the converter in the house.

DUITAMA IS MY NEW HOME! OVER 6,000 HITS ON MY BLOG!

My Little Cousin Beckham singing I am a Child of God.

Here's the words to what he's singing.

I am a Child of God.  And he has sent me here.  Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear.  Lead me, Guide me, Walk beside me, Help me find the way.  Teach me all that I must do, 

to live with him someday.

So my week was different, I had an emergency transfer on Tuesday to go from Barranca to Duitama. Not because anyone did something bad, just because President Andelin is changing assistants and one of the zone leaders in Duitama is now an assistant in place of Elder Robertson, who was the zone leader (ZL) here. I received the new calling of ZL, which I´m not entirely sure is warranted but I have it and I have to figure out what to do with it. I´m super sad to get sent from Barranca-bermeja because we were working super hard there, and we were preparing so many good people for their baptisms. I love the people in Barranca.  They are so helpful and humble.  They made being a missionary great.  But I have more responsibilities and I have to figure out how to help out more missionaries. I have a zone of 26 missionaries which is 5 districts which is the largest in the mission. I've already had to give an interview in another area of my zone, which is an hour by bus, but there's a part of the area that's about 2-3 hours from where we live, so it's a bit of a trip to go there help them out and go back to the house, but we get to travel and I like traveling. Not bragging just letting my brothers in the field see why it takes me so long to respond to them at times. We are going to be having a conference this Wednesday for the ZL´s and also for the rest of the mission for a general authority, Elder Uceda. We´re super excited for it.

MY COMPANION ELDER CCANCCAPA

ZL means I have to talk to all the DL´s (District Leaders) every day and if there is something that the president wants figured out in the Zone or a district I have to figure it out. But I have my new companion Elder Ccanccapa (Caun-kappa). He is super humble and really spiritual. From what I've learned from him, the living conditions that we have in the mission are about 100 times better than what he had before. He really wants to learn English so he can work in the states or to go to Mexico and use the English to improve his life there.

DINNER

DUITAMA

I HAVEN'T SEEN GRASS IN A LONG TIME.

DUITAMA

THE APARTMENT IN DUITAMA.

WALKING TO AN APPOINTMENT.

OSO MEANS BEARS.

MY MISSIONARY CHALLENGE FOR THE JOLIET WARD:  SHARE MY BLOG OR ELDER BROWNING'S OR ELDER VISSER'S.  IT MAY HELP THE MISSIONARIES BACK HOME!


P.S. Tell Allison thanks for the video of Beckham I don´t have time to write her but I really appreciate it and I´m going to show it to the other elders tonight.

IF THE SHOE FITS, IT'S PROBABLY WORN OUT!

Shoes are worn out! Didn't realize that I walk funny.

I had subway for the first time in a year!!!!

Fact of the day, in Latin culture they have 2 last names, the one from the father and the one from the mother, makes doing family history work easier I think. I had some good times with the zone leaders on Saturday in an exchange which was great. Didn't have a whole lot of lessons, but it was nice to go out with Elder Lagos for the day, he´s in my group so we go home together, he´s from Honduras and is 19 years old. I´m getting ready to finish that first year, so we´re going to see how it goes. If Jason comes to this mission that would be interesting, I would get to be his Zone leader, or ...his trainer!! Nah, he´s going to Bogota South mission. Margarita and the Orduña family are great, we´re working on getting them all a calling and to get their visiting teachers to visit them, so it´s not just the missionaries that are going by their houses.

I´m hoping to find and meet more special people. The people with whom I can have those eternal bonds now and in the eternities.

P.S. Sister Adams, thank you for writing so faithfully to me. I'm sorry if I don't respond as much. I really do appreciate you and your letters.

We played monopoly, Elder Apari (center) won.

The zone!

Elder Macias with Niño.

RANDOMNESS

History of Mormonism


This week was good, we had a lot of member support and we´re working on getting our investigators ready for baptism. We have 3 families that only need to get married and boom, baptism. So we´re going to be talking to them this week about matrimony. My favorite topic with non-members. But we are going to have success with that. I´m still here for another 6 weeks and I´m happy to be able to stay here, this is an amazing area, and while it's not home, it's been a great area to work in. Now I´m teaching 2 or 3 English speaking classes during the week to people. It's great meeting new people and helping them improve their skills. Well the talent show was OK, didn't do anything myself because the branch didn't buy the cord to power the piano. It was really good, there was about 150 people and at least 30 or so weren't members. I have at least 5 or 6 videos from it so I can show them to you when I get home. As for Margarita she was super happy for the baptism. And her family is more interested in learning from us now than before, so we´re going to be teaching them more now to try and convert the family.

I'm almost at one year! The year mark is to burn a shirt, but I don´t want to buy another one so I´m not going to do that, At the 6 month mark, its to burn a tie, but I like my ties so not going to do that either, but I have one that was a Christmas gift but it's like an ugly sweater contest winner of ties, so maybe that one.

I still haven´t had the chance to clean my suits, I have the number for a place that does it, just can't find the time to go there and drop them off, I'm going to see If I can have a member do it for me. The same for the shoes, the shoes I´m still trying to decide If I want to fix them or buy new ones.

But as for the golf and pool, I´m waiting for when I get home, with all the walking I do, we´re going to be going out for the 36 holes everyday. None of that, "only 18 for today," stuffs.

Sorry no pictures this week!

MARGARITA-VILLE

MARGARITA IS OUR NEWEST MEMBER!



I get to stay in Barranca-barmeja for another 6 weeks and then I get to go to another area to start the work anew. As for the week, we had the baptism for Margarita. She is super excited to be a member. We've been teaching her for 4 months. And the other missionaries were teaching her 2 months prior to that so it was a group effort. We went to visit her the day after and she was telling her daughter to listen to the missionaries. I was laughing so hard, that I´m sure her daughter could hear me on the other end of the line. But we also got a nice referral from a member for some friends that lived by her, a family of 6 but the opposite of us. Its twins first like us and two younger ones, but all girls. I was laughing a bit at the irony. But we´ll see how they go, it´ll be an interesting week.

As for weight I was able to weigh myself yesterday and I am a pleasant 160 pounds right now, thank you very much. I put some back on. I got the mail and packages and I finished the Cheez-its, I was able to make them last about a month. But otherwise it's all good down here.


Confucius says ok Elder Bandy says,I've found that by studying I have more questions than answers, but I like that I have questions, if there isn't a question there is no reason to search and to learn. Curiosity when tempered with gospel principles helps us to learn so much more than merely wanting to know just to know.

THIS AVACADO IS THE SIZE OF MY HAND. I LIKE TO MAKE GUACAMOLE ON MONDAYS!