Monday February 29, 2016

Hey mom!!!! 

  Well this was a good week here! So we have been working really hard on finding new family in our area, and we just contacted a ton this whole week, and we were able to find three great families, and we will see if they can progress! 

 The Guzman family is doing good, they are still going to church, the only problems is that they keep putting off marriage, and it is really taking its toll... We don't know what we can do to help them, because we have shared so much about marriage and about families, but they are just scared to take that leap of faith.. 

  The Bentancourt family told me they have plans to go the states and visit Utah. They said when I am getting married I will have to send them an invitation, and they are going to go! Haha they are great, it is crazy to see the changed that happened to them! Because before they didn't even really want to visit us, or see us, and now everyday they eat lunch with us, and they always call at night and say they are outside our house with hamburgers or pizza!! They are the best! 

  So I have to santa cruz again tonight, I thought i was done traveling, but turns out my comp and I have to do some things there and then we will be back in our area on Wednesday! Everything is going great, transfers are next week, and I really hope I don't leave, cause I just love this branch and this area so much! 

 Thanks for everything mom, I love you so much, and I hope you have a great week! 

So yes there was elections this week, and we had to stay in the house again, and we couldn't even have church on Sunday! But everything is now back to normal! 

So this week we were getting everything ready for the wedding of the Guzman family, but there were a couple of extended family problems, and they decided to put it off until march... It's just Satan who doesn't want them to get married and baptized, but everything should work out fine soon! 

Also a huge heat wave came in this week, that the temperature got up to 122 degrees... my comp and I were dying... but here whenever it gets really hot it's because a huge storm is coming, and a huge storm came... There was so much wind and rain it was crazy! It felt like how it looks in the movie the testaments when they killed Jesus Christ... It was crazy and lots of trees fell down and lots of fences... but nothing happened to my comp and I! 

Things are going great here.  My comp is the best! He said he knows a lot of Burgos Families! He wants to know from which ward in Cartagena. 

Heres some pics of my comp and I! 

Monday February 15, 2015

Hello Family!
Well it has been a crazy last couple of weeks here in the mission field! So as you know, we had to stay in the house from Sunday until Tuesday.  And it was so boring! But Tuesday night, we heard something outside our house, and we went to see what it was. We saw that it was two people fighting in the street, and then a car drove past and saw them fighting, and saw us standing inside our gate.  The guy stopped the car and started yelling at us, telling us to go and break up the fight.  We told him to call the police and he got super mad, and left his car and ran up to our gate and started yelling.  That's when I smelt a lot of alcohol on his breath, and he said that we were fake and we don't do anything for the people, because we didn't want to break up a fight... great experience...
  
The bad thing that happened this week was that on Wednesday morning I woke up with a lot of pain in my body, like everywhere just felt sore, and I noticed red dots everywhere on my body.  So I called the nurse and I guess that it was signs of Dengue or Zika... and that I should rest.. My comp and I tried to go teach but I just felt dead.  Then I got a huge fever, and I was just out for two days straight.  I couldn't do anything, and my body just hurt... but now I am better, my bones still hurt, but I don't have any symptoms or anything... 

The Guzman family is doing great the relief society is planning out their wedding, and they should get married on the 26th.  Everything is going great here in the mission, and my companion is the best!  He is crazy like sister Davis, but he is really the best!  Love you all family. I would send pics, but this computer has problems! Love you all!  

Monday January 25, 2015

So first off, a funny story. Our house, has this huge front gate around it the has these really sharp metal spikes on top, and it is always open, because the owners are always home.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, we lost the key. We asked them for a replacement, but they forgot to give us one.  So, turns out of Wednesday night they went on vacation for a couple of days.  When we woke up Thursday, we didn't know.   We went to go running in the morning, but it was all locked up, and we thought they were sleeping so we didn't go running, and we just did exercises in the house.  Well, at like 10:00 we had to leave to go to our meeting in the morning, and it was still locked.  So we knocked on the door, and no one came out, we kept knocking, but it turns out that no one was there.  So we had no other option other than jump the fence.  To be honest it wasn't that hard, kind of scary but it wasn't hard.  But my companion was way scared and he didn't know what to do... so finally he had to try and jump it, and when he did one of the spikes caught his shirt, and it ripped it completely. But we couldn't get back inside, so he had to walk while holding his bag over his chest! Then luckily at night one of the sons didn't go and he made us a copy of the key!!! 

The baptism of the daughter Mendez family went well, she was very happy, and her dad was also. The young women are so much more loving than any other organization, they were so nice to her, and she felt really loved and welcomed after her baptism! The Guzman family is doing great, they are going to get all of there marriage papers ready today, and they are planning on getting baptized soon! They are really so great!!  Also the dad's brother has started coming to church, and he also might get baptized soon!  So we will see how that goes! 

Transfers are this week, and my comp might go. it will be really sad, because he has been one of my best companions! But we will see who my next companion will be!!! 

Thanks for all of your love mom, I love you so much!!! I am so glad to hear that the family is doing so great! 

Sounds like everyone had a great week this week!!!! I sure did too!!!! So this week, my comp and I had to go on exchanges with the Elders in Villamontes, and I went last time, so it was my comps turn to go with them! (neither one of us wants to go, because it is the hottest city in the whole mission) But he said he will buy pizza if I go, so I accepted the offer very fast and I went to Villamontes for two days this week!! It was great getting a chance to go and work with the other Elders there!!! I look up to them a lot, because it is so hot in that city, but they don't complain at all!! 

Then I got back here, and My comp and I noticed that some elders in our zone still needed help, so we did another intercambio with them, and I went to that area again, so I didn't work that much in my own area this week... haha but it's ok, because we were still able to find a lot of new people to teach! 

The Guzman family is doing great! The husband has been kind of sick for a while.  He has some type of sickness but I forgot the name.  He said that He feels like God gave him that trial so could come closer to Him. Then he asked us for a blessing, and he said that same night that he had a dream of him being baptized, and he said that he was so happy!!! So they should be baptized soon!  The daughter of the Mendez family should also be baptized this week, if everything goes well! 

Thanks mom for everything, I love you so much! 

What a great week here in the mission!!!! 

  
Things were just great this week!!! So the whole day Tuesday my comp and I were in Santa Cruz for leadership council, and it was a very spritual experience! Presdent Willard is having a family struggle, and it turns out his grandson passed away, 7 hours after birth, but he still did the conference with us, and he even related this trial to the missionary work, and it was mind opening! 

Then this week we had a couple of great miricles!!! First off, The Guzman family is doing great, and they are going to get married and Baptized the first week of Febuary!!! They realized they need to do it, and even though it will be hard, they are excited for it!!! Then at church, we have this family who is less active who we are teaching, and when we first starting teaching them, they said that all of the kids have been baptized, but it turns out that the last two never got baptized, and we never knew... so now the kids are going to get baptized, and we also have this other girl who turns out she was baptized, but there was a problem with the computer when she got baptized, and looks like she never got registered.. so the mission said we have to baptize her again... haha 

 Also of the guzman family, the other brothers and sister started going to church, and out of that family we have 7 investigators, and all of them were at church. 

Things are going great here, I love the missionary work in this branch, and it is really growing a lot!  Thanks for all of your love and support, Love you so much! 

Hey MOM!!!!

Well mom This was a great week here!!! And it made the week even better, cause I got a package this morning!!! Thanks so much, you guys are the best! I really liked the photo book, its crazy to see how much everyone is growing up!!!

So this week has been great!!! We have been working a lot with this new family that we have found, and they should be baptized this month, the only problem is that they are not married, so they need to do that first!!! other than that they are progressing a lot, and they are really excited to learn more!!!

Sister Betancourt got a new calling this week, and she is not a teacher in the primary!!! She loves her calling, and she is doing it really well! Everytime we go to teach her, she already knows what we are going to teach, and she basically teaches us.. She is reading the book  Teachings of the Prophets, Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon and she is learning a lot! Well, she is a very smart person, and she is just great! 

This is going to be a crazy week for us here, because we have to send some of the missionaries in our zone to Santa Cruz this week to do some immigration papers, and then on Tuesday my comp and I have to go there also for meetings... But its ok, I am getting used to sleeping in the buses, and they are getting more and more comfortable each time!

Bryson sent me some pics of the snow at home, and it looks so cool, I am really jealous.. If you want to send me some I will gladly receive it!! Haha well love you all family.  Thanks for everything! Have a great week!!!