Beware of Ironing and Showering!

Okay another week has come and gone! First things first, THANKS FOR THE CHRISTMAS PACKAGES FAMILY! haha. I just want to eat the nuts and bolts ALL THE TIME!!! I have my stocking hung up on our board of investigators and I eat my chocolate candy every day in the calendar, and thanks for the scripture in each day too haha. So this last week has actually been a little hectic because one of the zone leaders in my apartment got called as Assistant so we´re currently in a trio until transfers this Wednesday haha. That´s right I´m a zone leader who´s still being trained haha. But yeah it´s cool that Elder Andrus was made assistant because I totally ironed his shirt one day so he owes me one now. The work here is going strong! We´ve been finding some good new investigators and that´s awesome! But they don´t like to leave their houses for church on Sunday haha. This is the problem with a lot of the costeños (the coastal people of Colombia who like to party and whom I serve) they don´t really like to do things haha. But some investigators we have are really good. One who has been receiving lessons for like 3 months but never came to church, came to an activity!!! but not church haha. Slowly but surely.. Choir.... is bad haha. Not many people like to come and the ones who do can´t sing haha, but it´s okay! We´re singing silent night in church next week, but we´ll see how that works out. Do you want to hear the funniest thing I´ve heard in my life? The bishop´s wife told us that it´s bad to iron and then shower here. Wanna know why? Because the iron is hot and then the showers are cold, so it will give us arthritis hahahahahahaha. When she said this the other zone leader and I were basically rolling on the floor laughing, but she believes it 100%!!! She then told us that one day the bishop ironed, then went to the church to perform a baptism, then that night his leg was stiff. I told her this was false doctrine and she then explained that it´s because the iron is hot and then the climate is hot too. This is why we haven´t heard of this in Utah because here it´s hotter. Anyways yeah that´s awesome. Spanish is still tough but getting better! One investigator told me that he knows I´m speaking with the spirit so he knows exactly what I want to say. That made me feel really good. And some other people in the ward said I´m way better than when I got here so that´s nice of them. I´ve heard about a lot of the people leaving on missions now and that´s awesome! I want to be there to see where everyone´s going and go to your farewells haha. For skype I can skype any day between the 20th and the 31st so I´ll talk more about that next week for specifics. I love you all and I´ll talk to the family soon! ps. Friends... I want to email you, but it´s against the rules, so I´m working on a way to write letters you can get so just know I´ve not forgotten you haha. bros. I love you all. Ed, I miss you too! and you´re gonna be great in the field.

Just Pray!

So I have very little time this week so I`ll type this out like something that moves really fast. I don`t have much time because we had zone pday with the president so we got to play soccer with him and the rest of our zone which was fun... ish because I can`t play soccer haha. This week has been good and I feel like I`m improving in a lot of areas. We actually had a legitimate investigator come to church so that was really cool haha. We have found some really good new investigators too, but the problem here is that everybody works all the time so they can`t come to church, but we`ll see how this will work out after we teach them the sabbath day haha. I`ve been studying a lot in preach my gospel about recognizing the spirit lately and then read the story of the liahona in first nephi. This is great when you analyze it because you really can see the pattern that the lord has established. We need to work and act before he will just give us all the direction that we want. So I`ve been applying that lately which is awesome as a missionary, but I just want our investigators to do the same haha. I don`t understand why they won`t just pray!!!!! Every visit we ask, "did you pray for an answer?" and they just won`t do it! It really is like 5 minutes (or like 3 days if it goes well), but yeah. Also we`ve found a lot of inactive people here, but one is a little crazy haha. She works in this little corner store and called me and my companion over to tell us the story of why she doesn`t come to church. She basically just told us that every woman in this ward is evil and they all gossip (as she gossiped us this info I saw the validity of her story). But gally! We`re going over there in a little bit to talk with her. Suggestions? So I got the Christmas package and wowzers! it`s freakin awesome (i don`t really know because I don`t want to unwrap the presents until Christmas). And did you send two because another package just came for me today and if it was the one you sent last week I think you sent it by floo powder because nobody here gets packages that quick haha. Sorry I can`t write more this week, I will next week but I love you all! Especially mom dad callie brock tj and jeff`s adopted in so him too and all the bros and everyone else who`s reading this (you know who you are because you`re reading this.) BYE!

3 Month Mark!

Okay so there goes a whole `nother week! haha And boy oh boy can I just say that I had an experience that none of you will get to have, count your blessings, A WHOLE 36 HOURS WITHOUT WATER!!!! haha That started Tuesday morning and went on through Wednesday night so that was super fun haha. It would have been okay but we had a service project on Wednesday so we just had to come back and change and that sucked because we all smelt pretty bad, but hey, What`s a mission without a little fun like that right? But really it`s been a good week haha. Tuesday my companion and I went on splits with the district leaders, since he is the zone leader, which was cool. I got to work with Elder Davidson (from Riverton and has exactly one year more than me) in their area all day. It was fun and he`s really nice so that was good. Wednesday was good because we had that service project and these really good sandwiches after. Friday I got to lead the "choir" again, we`re practicing for Christmas. They`re starting to get on pitch! So that`s a plus! Also on Friday one of our investigators from the missionaries who were here before us had her baptismal interview! Saturday we had a baptism! His name is Jean Carlos and there`s a picture included. He was difficult because he was a little flakey on a lot of things, but I saw such a change literally the minute he came up out of the water. He`s excited to be a member now. He also asked me to confirm him which scared me to death. So I studied how to say that so I could do it the next day, but then the bishop had his son do it, so that was nice haha. Sundays are nice, but rough. We invite a lot of people to church and they say they will, but.... no... We had one investigator who was stoked for church and said he wanted to bring his whole family, but had to work. That`s another problem in Colombia, the jobs are more when they need you, so if they call on Sunday you have to go in. We went and visited everyone who didn`t come and they all had "reasons" if that`s what you want to call them haha. One experience that I feel pretty good about. So we have an investigator named Nilsa. She was a reference and we`ve taught her like 3 times, but she doesn`t really commit and told us she`s not too interested, but then told the other elders that she`s just bored. She said my companion is not very exciting and I just don`t talk too much. So yesterday we visited her and I just started talking to her about life and how things are going, and she would be happy, but then my companion would say "You weren`t at church and we were expecting you. Are you reading? Why don`t you do more?" so then I would ease the blows again with my small talk that is hardly anything haha. She`d glare at him and then smile at me when I talked. I know our purpose is for her to be reading, praying, and coming to church, but she just doesn`t trust us enough. So we`re working on that. We went to the Christmas devotional last night, which made me a little home sick haha. I really miss snow and real Christmas haha. Everyone here decorated before Thanksgiving (freaks) and I am yet to hear one Christmas song haha. Now I know that I wasn`t the biggest fan of Christmas music, but "gally gee how happy I`d be if only I could whistle" (a christmas song haha). I miss the music and cold weather haha. But the devotional, I`m sure it was good, but I couldn`t understand too much. Spanish is coming, but it`s still super slow and hard. It`s frustrating not being able to say what you want, but people are nice and just smile, which is awkward when I just asked the a deep thought provoking question haha. I also have been studying a lot to understand how to be a more effective teacher, but that`s coming slowly but surely too haha. We did a lot of contacting the other day and wow.... so many inactives. And there`s a lot of people who listened to the missionaries and then the missionaries stopped coming. Who are these two elders?! I hope everyone is in the holiday spirit! Because the most I get here is at the bishops house where they have a little dancing santa that sings jingle bells haha. I hit 3 months this week, so hopefully the next 21 are as good or better as this one! I love you all and pray for you (bros, family, others? haha)

Go Jordan!

Okie dokie! One more week! My first experience with Zone Conference was this week, and that was neat! haha It was actually pretty good and we learned a lot. President was there and talked a lot about faith and I know one thing was aimed at me. He said that we need to have the faith to open our mouths. So that´s what I did a few times in lessons. I just thought "this is God´s investigator not mine" and then I would talk. I know that my Spanish wasn´t very good but the investigators really respond well when I would talk so I know that the Lord has blessed me there. In our zone there´s like 10 gringos and there´s one from Cottonwood heights (AP), Draper, Riverton, and another one from Grantsville. So that was nice to talk to some other people from home! Especially since zone conference was on Thanks FREAKING giving haha. The zone leaders (since their gringos) ordered us deli sandwiches which is probably the first meal I´ve had in forever without rice so that was nice haha. But it definitely was no turkey dinner (save me some green bean casserole please). One day this last week my companion went on divisions with another companion (since he´s the district leader), so I got to lead the area here! haha. It went pretty well and the other companion was super nice and helped me out a lot too. We´ve been finding a lot of new investigators which is nice, but some of our investigators just need to start prayin´ haha. We have an investigator who´s getting baptized next week and I asked him who Christ is for him specifically and all he said was "the son of God." So we´re gonna be reading some scriptures there that´s for sure haha. Oh my gosh, some things Colombia just needs some help with like when it´s bed time, and what is an appropriate volume for music haha. Two nights ago there was literally music blaring ALL night long. Not an exaggeration, from 9 pm until who knows how long because we had to leave for church. And just during the day, people will rent giant speakers and play music in the street for hours. Gally! haha But there´s nice people here too and they love gringos. We were at one street vender with the other companionship of two Americans and this guy just bought us a 2 liter thing of Coke and said here it´s free haha. All in all things are going pretty well. It´s tough a lot of the time, but I´m learning. OH! So we have activities a lot in this ward that we run. Wednesday is English Class, Thursday is like mutual but for everyone and then... FRIDAYS we have ward choir, which I´m now in charge of hahahaha. They´re awful, I´m not good, and I can´t tell them what to do fix it in Spanish haha. But it´s pretty fun. We´ve started to throw together a little Christmas program so that´s neat. haha. Ward´s here are just so different. There´s only like 50 people there, only have the guys wear a shirt and tie, first counselor walks in eventually during the sacrament, and nobody can sing haha. But they´re all really nice. We went to this place called Centro today which is kind of like China town with hundreds of little shacks set up in the street for stores with the most random junk you never want to find haha, but I also got some cool pictures of this Catholic church around there. I also found Jordan Highs initials on the church (in one of the pictures). I think they put it there because Jordan won state. A few weeks ago the bishop was showing us a map of the ward on Google maps and then wanted to see all of our houses so we showed him. When he looked at our house and saw 3 cars he asked if we were having a party that day. You should have seen his face and the face of my native companion when I explained that we have five (one per driver) and at one point six so that TJ could have a car too haha. So he thinks that we´re loaded now. Then my companion told one of the priests in the ward here and we just dropped his jaw and asked if one was a ferrari haha. Oh Latinos.... Anyways, I love you all and I hope all is well at home. I hear there´s this thing there called "cold?" that´s weird. When you´re walking all day here in who knows how hot of whether haha. I swear if one my investigator or member says "Oh, are you sweating?" I´m gonna lose it haha. OF COURSE I AM!!! haha. But it´s nice because there´s a breeze this month. Everyone says this is the best time of the year, so I´m enjoying the mild inferno while it lasts.

No names or descriptions, but enjoy some pretty pictures