Week 9!

Hey Guys!!! I'm back! What a week it has been.  We finally have some more investigators we are teaching!!  We have the family of the lady that we helped move in, another girl named Liksi who is a cousin of some members in the ward, and a Rastafarian named Elvis.  A FREAKIN RASTA MON. He has dreads down passed his butt which is pretty sweet.  I'm loving teaching these investigators.  Teaching is so much more fun than doing street contacts, haha.  

 

Something really cool that I've noticed is that we always show up at Leidi Diaz´s house right when they need us.  It's definitely a tender mercy.  As I think I mentioned before, her son is in a wheelchair and his legs don't work.  And every time we show up at their house, it's when they arrive and its perfect timing to help carry him up the stairs.  I hope they can see that it is a tender mercy like we can.  

Also this week we had training with the president which was pretty cool.  We combined with the Kennedy zone and we just had one big training sesh.  Also, they fed us sandwiches from a place called Qbano which was hecking good.  Good times.

And on top of that I got to meet Elder Ostler!! Which was super cool, he was a real nice guy and we got a pic.  

Today we went to Bosa Centro which is like big city Bogota! Super dope.  I got to buy some ties, which are only like 3 bucks.  We also got to eat McDonalds which was awesome.  But its still just not the same.  It's super cool being in the centro because there are a lot of members there and they always stop us to say hi.  One guy stopped us outside of the McDs and talked to us about the church for a bit.  Really nice guy.  After that, he bought us some ice cream, then handed each of us 20 thousand pesos.  Super nice guy.  

Also I found Ramen at the Éxito!!  What good news.  And its only like 35 cents so its all good.  I think I'm gonna go buy like 30 packets for this week, just to make sure we don't starve.

Also mom, I don't know if you can tell....BUT I'M AT THE FREAKING PIGEON PLACE. It's a part of my mission (haha) but just not my area.  Maybe one day it will be though, I'm not sure.  I love you guys like crazy and hope everything is awesome.  I miss you guys so much, it kills me to even think about it, haha.  But oh well what can I do.  Talk to you guys next week!

Top Ramen!  This is a HUGE deal for Tanner, since he used to eat it everyday.  What a relief to know he won't starve.  LOL!

Also.  McDonald's.  A piece of home. 

Elder Ostler is from Kaysville, and in The Yancey's ward!  

Before Tanner left, we watched many Bogota videos on You Tube.  This pigeon place was always shown and we couldn't wait for Tanner to see it in real life.  And he made it there!  

Elder Leishman and Elder Sotoski

Week 8!

Hey guys!  It's been a good week! Super busy...ish.  It's hard because we have a full day planned, but most of the time, our lessons fall through.  A lot of times its because there isn't a man in the house and we can't go inside. We try to find a brother from the ward to help, but there aren't that many and they're usually busy when we need them.  Oh well, the Lord will help us out.  I know that if we work harder, things will start to work out. 

  

I know the Lord is watching out for us because every time we get discouraged, he puts a service opportunity in our way.  This week we were walking to an appointment right after one dropped, and we found some women in the street trying to move a bunch of stuff into their new house.  There were only two men there to help, and one of them was in a wheelchair and they were moving to the second floor so he wasn't moving much.  We got to help them out and the mom just kept telling us that we were a blessing from God.  After, we got her information and now we have a lesson with their family!! Let's hope it works out, hahaha.  

  

We also did Intercambios this week, which is where we trade companions for a day to learn from the other companions.  I was with Elder Justiniano from Bolivia.  He is super cool and a really hard worker.  I felt bad because my feet hurt so bad I couldn't walk very fast, but he was real patient with me, haha.  We do a lot of walking out here, and the blisters on my feet are AWFUL.  But I sliced em right open, drained em out, and now they don't hurt as bad, hahaha.

Today my inner "mom" kicked in and I cleaned the whole apartment.  It was disgusting and it was driving me NUTS.  It took me like 30 minutes just to sweep.  AND OUR APARTMENT IS ONLY LIKE 4 ROOMS.  I think Elder Sotoski was a little worried because I was just silently cleaning for like an hour, hahaha.  But it was good.  It looks a lot better now.  Then we went to the Exito (which is like Walmart) and bought some much needed things for the place, haha.  

This morning we played soccer with some other missionaries from our district, which was a ton of fun.  I'm not too big into soccer, but I don't really have an option now that I'm living in Colombia, and my companion is from Brazil.  It's funny because they are always laughing while they play like it's all fun and games, but it's freaking bloodthirsty.  

Well here's my report for this week! Hope things are good at home.  Love everyone like crazy! I wish you could all be here to experience this place with me.  See ya! Talk to you next week.

Elder Leishman

Here are a some questions that Robb asked, and he got some great answers! 

1.  Tell me your favorite thing about Bogota Colombia so far. 

Empanadas and the people here are super nice.

2.  What do you think of your ward?

The ward is great.  I love it because they sing a cappella and Latins are horrible singers, but there is nothing more beautiful than hearing them all sings hymns as loud as they can.  It's super cool.

3. What do you think of your Mission President?

I haven't talked to him much, but everyone says he is super nice.  He has a really deep voice and it's pretty cool.  Unfortunately he told us we can't listen to EFY music, so rest in peace all the music on my Ipod, hahaha.

4. What is your daily schedule like?  When do you wake up? When do you go out? Do you have mission prayer time?  When do you go to bed?

We get up at 6:30 and do personal study and stuff like that until 11 or 12, then we head out.  Lunch is usually at one, then we walk around and do mission stuff until 9, then we head home and it's whatever we want until we go to bed.  They changed the schedule to that about 2 weeks ago, and it's awesome.  We get 2 extra hours on P Day to get stuff done, and we get more time to sleep because we can plan in the morning.  

5.  Do you do your own grocery shopping, cooking and laundry?  Or does somebody do that for you?

We do it all.  They give us 160,000 pesos for our assignment, which we get every 15 days.  It's about 60 bucks.  Which really doesn't last very long, haha.  Stuff is pretty cheap though so it's all good.  Except for hygiene stuff, it's super expensive.  Chapstick is like 4 or 5 bucks each, shaving cream is like 6 bucks for the cheap stuff. Luckily you and mom hooked it up pretty well so I haven't had to buy any yet.  But we also have to pay to use the computers here because we just use the computers in these little shops that have computers in the back, hahaha.

6.  How is the weather there?  Does the air smell?  You know like does it stink there? Is it tropical where you are with Palm trees and stuff?

Weather here is pretty good.  Sometimes it smells pretty bad, like when we get near the river here because its super dirty, or when a bus drives by and coal rolls us.  But other than that it's like perfect temperature most of the time.  It rains sometimes, and it's pretty windy (and super dusty) but since I'm used to Utah weather, it's pretty great.  My comp is always freezing though, hahaha.

7.  Do Colombians work all day or do they do the afternoon siesta thing and then work into the evening.  Tell me some things about the culture of Colombians.

I'm kind of convinced they don't work at all, haha.  They are always sleeping or just chilling in their house, haha. It's hard because there aren't a lot of good jobs here, so everyone sells like ice cream, or phone cases in the street, or they own a little shop that sells food.  But if they aren't doing that, then I don't know what they are doing.  

8.  Now that you have been in the mission field for a couple of weeks what do you think of the food?  Do members feed you a lot or are you mostly on your own for food?

The food is pretty good here.  I imagine in the nicer areas its better.  I've had a few arepas and they are pretty good.  But the empanadas you buy in the streets are MONEY.  They are way good man, and they cost only about 30 cents each so we get em like every day, haha.  We have lunch with members almost every day, but some days (like P Day) we are on our own.  They eat mostly chicken here for meat, which is kind of funny because they're shizzy at making it, haha.  I miss my dad's cooking.

And I know that my whole life you were worried about my table manners on my mission, but fear not.   I have the best table manners these people have ever seen, hahaha.  If they are eating, and a piece of steak is too tough to cut, they just pick it up with their hands and eat it like jerky, hahaha, it's awesome. 

 

I love you guys and miss you like crazy.  I just wish you could all be here with me to experience this.  It's seriously crazy.  We even saw a real life coke head the other day and we saw him again today.  He hangs out around the church we have meeting at and just yells gibberish and it's pretty sad...but also kinda funny.  I think of you guys every day and hope things are good man.  Sorry I don't write very much.  I can never remember what to write once I'm finally in the moment. So the questions things was perf.

Elder Sotoski and Elder Leishman

Week 7!

Hey guys! We out here is Bosa!  We have been teaching and walking like crazy, but that's the missionary life! Hahaha.  It's been super cool, the days pass surprisingly fast.  I can't believe it's already been almost a week out here!  Its crazy.  

We haven't been teaching a ton because I'm still in training but it's still been good.  The people who live here are very poor, but very humble.  This place is pretty crazy...try and google Bosa, Bogota, Colombia and see what you can find.  Its a pretty busy place.  It also never shuts up.  There is always music playing really loud, and horns honking and people yelling, hahaha, you wouldn't believe.  

One experience I had this week is that we ate at a members house who was super poor, and she gave us this food called Mondongo...cow stomach.   I had to down that ish...but i rocked it.  Until we got home and i threw up all of it.  Elder Sotoski got a video, and I would send it but that would take up all my time.   

I also got to teach FHE to a family this week which was super cool.  It was just a short lesson, but they seemed to like it.  We brought an investigator along too and I think he liked it.  Then on Sunday I had to give a talk.  Little did I know we don't get personal study on Sundays, so I had like 5 minutes to prepare a 10 minute talk, in a language I don't speak, hahaha.  In the end it went really well.  I think I took up the whole 10 minutes, and my comp said it even made him cry.  They ward seemed to like it too so that was good. The ward is super small...like roughly 30 people.  But the people here are super cool.  

That's about all for this week.  Love you guys! Talk to you next week.

Also, mom if you could send some chapstick that would be awesome.  I'm almost out and its like super expensive here.  Like 4 or 5 bucks, haha.  Love you guys!! Talk to you next week.

Elder Gabriel Sotoski and Elder Tanner Leishman

This is how they do laundry - some guy shows up at their door, and they rent this machine for three hours, and comes back to pick it up.   

Week 6!

February 8, 2017

¡HOLA FROM BOGOTÁ! I'm out here in the field with my new best friend and companion Elder Sotoski! He is from Sao Paulo Brazil, and he is like 6 ft 6.  He is super tall, but super cool.  I'm beyond excited to teach with him.  

Monday was pretty crazy.  We had classes about moving into the mission field the whole day, and then at night Presidente and Hermana Hansen made us brownies and ice cream.  Which was super cool.  After that we went up to our district room and said a district prayer (in English), Hermana Thomas offered the prayer.  We were all crying by time is was over.  I'm so thankful for that awesome district and all the things we learned together.  I know that they will all be awesome missionaries.

Yesterday morning some Nortes from my mission came and picked us up from the CCM, and we rode a bus to a park in Bogota Norte.  There we met the president and the other trainers.  The president gave us all some juice and cookies, and then we had a short meeting, and  took a picture then headed to his house.  His apartment is SUPER nice.  Obviously he doesn't live in Bogota Sur, he lives in the north mission because its nicer, haha.  We had a short interview, and then he decided companions for us.  I got assigned to serve in La Libertad with Elder Sotoski.  It's still in the city so its super busy! 

We got home, and I unpacked. After that, we hit the street.  It was super cool.  We went to an investigators house named Rodrigo.  His mom and brothers are members, but he is not.  I tried my best to understand what he was saying, but it was super hard.  Every time my companion said anything, he would look to me to say something, but I couldn't.  I tried my best to testify of whatever we were talking about, but it was super hard.  And then, as if it wasn't hard enough, Elder Sotoski asked me to give him a priesthood blessing...IN SPANISH! I had never done one in Spanish before so I was super nervous.  And he also had like 4 names.  It took me forever to memorize them (haha) but I did it! It was really cool.  

This place is wack, hahaha.  There are people everywhere.  Its like a mini New York.  Its kind of funny, because all the the stores are right next to each other.  So when you are in the Mattress section of the city, there are like 100 mattress stores.  Same with electronics, and other things like that.  It's super weird.  I feel like not only am i in another country, I'm on another planet.  It's so different here.  The culture is so different, people dress different, people look and act different, but its not bad.  I'm excited to be able to communicate with these people and teach them the gospel.

It looks like my P-day is Monday, but today we get to email just to let our fam know we love them, so LOVE YOU GUYS!! 

Love- Elder Leishman

Elder Leishman and Elder Sotoski

Tanner with President and Sister Baquerizo

Week 5!

Well, here is my last email from the CCM (I think)!  I'm pretty sure next week will just be a quick I'm here and I'm alive email. 

Not a lot really happened this week.  The new Nortes are super cool so that has been fun.  I'm super surprised how fast these last two weeks have gone.  It's been super crazy.  I don't know if I mentioned this before, but we got a new teacher named Hermana Peña, who doesn't speak a bit of English.  It has been super cool because we all had to step up our Spanish game to be able to have class with her.  We have all improved a ton.

On Sunday, Presidente Hansen gave us a quick lecture on Venezuela.  They are in a super tough place right now, and they are staring a violent revolution in the face.  There are a few Elders and Hermanas from Venezuela, and unfortunately that is the only place they are allowed to serve.  It has been super humbling to see the sacrifice they are making to serve.  I've gotten real tight with some of the Venezuelans because I know a bunch of their slang like Chamo because of my boss Jesus (when I was a janitor). He also taught me some not so good words that I didn't know were swearwords.  Hahaha, oops!  Oh well. My friend Elder Luna (the handsome dude in the first photo) is Venezuelan and he tells me about it. It's pretty crazy there.  Please pray for Venezuela.  

Pray for Bogota South too, I'm gonna be living there awhile :)

I hope everything is great at home! I miss you all like heck but its been sweet here.  Love you guys!

Talk to you in two weeks!

Elder Leishman