Week 52!

Hey mom! I'm sorry if this letter is way too short, I really don't have a ton to say.  This week was just kind of nuts, and I kind of already told you guys about it on Sundee.   It was super cool to see you guys on Skype though!  I was real pumped about it.  I just love how it's just a normal conversation as if we were just talking at home.  I know it sounds weird, I just like how chill it is.

Other than that, this week wasn't too interesting.  We went and sang Christmas carols in everyone's areas so we didn't have a ton of time in our own area to work, but it was still a lot of fun.  We got some good contacts too that should hopefully be investigators soon.

We didn't really think we would have anybody at church because it was Christmas eve, and nobody wants to go to church on Christmas, but it was pretty rad because we had 5 people come with us to church! :) I set a goal a while back that I wouldn't have another week this year with nobody at church, and so far so good! Getting people to church has always been kind of hard, but we've been trying real hard lately and we've been having a lot of success with it.   I guess that's why they make us set so many dang goals during the mission.  Literally....so many goals.  All is well though.

The Christmas party we had yesterday was a ton of fun too.  Everyone brought food and a game to play so we just messed around the whole time. We ate a bunch and just did some real good hanging out.  Lot of fun. 

Thanks guys for everything you do. :) Thanks for the letter.  Merry Bob Saget Christmas.  I'll try and send some photos...but this computer keeps freezing every time I do.

Christmas Eve Skype!

We only got to Skype for 55 minutes!  But it was amazing!  Elder Leishman is clearly so happy doing missionary work!  He is making great friends along the way and LOVES Colombia and the people there.  He is missing music and wanted to know the latest news in the music world from his brothers.  We were excited to meet his companion, Elder Hancock, and a few other elders from his mission.  

Week 51!

Hey mom! Just so you know, the 24th, at 5:00 COLOMBIAN TIME we will be skyping so be ready :)

Glad to hear you guys had an interesting week! Hahaha, this week was pretty interesting for me as well.

Well we all thought that this week was going to be a little more chill because the Christmas parties and everything were over, but HECK, the week was still full of stuff to do.  Oh well, it was still fun.  I think they try and keep us pretty busy and distracted because Christmas time is pretty rough in the mission.  

The other day the zone leaders texted us and told us, "Hey, tomorrow you have to be in the North in the morning to help out with a service project."  And that was it.  Nobody told us what we would be doing, or how much time it would take...or really anything. We got there the next day and we got to help out some Venezuelans get some food.  For those that don't know, Venezuela isn't doing so well.  It's pretty much in civil war because their president is so corrupt.  It's almost impossible to find food, paper, soap, or really anything.  So they are all doing everything they can to get out of Venezuela, but when they get here they don't have much.  Including food or money.  So the church donated a bunch of food to help these people out.  Since a lot of them were mothers with babies, they had us carry their food boxes to the bus, and help them get everything they needed.  It was cool to help out, plus some of my friends from the North mission that I met in the MTC were there so we had a real good time. :) The only bad part was that I got SUPER heckin' sunburned.  Hahaha, everyone made fun of me at church because I was so red.  Oh well, I can't help that I'm gringo.  

Also, this week we had 5 investigators come to church :)  I know that doesn't sound like anything too great, but DANG WHAT A MIRACLE.  Getting people to come to church sometimes feels like pulling teeth, but this week wasn't so bad so I'm plenty happy about it, haha.  A lot of people that hopefully will be ready for baptism real soon. :)  

Starting last week (and continuing this week) we are singing Christmas hymns as a zone in everyone's area.  So we started yesterday in our area...but there was a concert going on right next to it the whole time, so nobody could hear us very well, and it was just kind of nuts. But we are gonna keep singing this week and we'll see how it goes, haha. :)

Thanks for everything guys!  I pulled some money out today to buy myself a sweet pair of shoes.  They look pretty rad, I also got some stuff for my district for Christmas so thanks mom (and Grammy). :)  I love you guys a ton.  Can't wait to see you guys next week :) I'll try and send some photos in a bit.  

Week 50!

Hey mom! What a week.  Wayyy too busy, haha.  It was a lot of fun though.  We had the Mission Christmas Party which was a lot of fun.  All four Elders from Leticia came up and stayed in our house so it was really cool.  We just went with 3 zones from the mission, so it wasn't everyone, but it was still a lot of fun. We got to go to the temple with President and Hermana Baquerizo which was really cool.  Although we had to get up HECKIN early to get there on time.  Then we all got to watch Moana :) which was super cool, but I don't feel like I got the full effect because it was in Spanish, and the speaker barely worked the whole time, but I guess it'll just be something I gotta do when I get back.  In the end  a ton of fun though.

The next day we had the huge Christmas party with the ward.  It was a ton of fun.  Sadly we don't dance, but I def need to learn to dance all the cool dances they do down here.  I might learn to dance the Salsa and Bachata and use that to score a hot wife one day.   It was a lot of fun though :) A lot of music and we had like 7 investigators there so it went really well.  We had planned to sing a funny missionary song for the talent show, but in the end they didn't have one so we just didn't do it, haha.  We got to hang out and talk with the ward and with the investigators so it went really well.

ALSO, I got my Christmas package :) totally awesome! Thank you guys so much.  I've been feeling like a rich bass in all my new Brooks Brothers stuff, haha :) Also, we've been loving the poo-pourri.  My comp says thanks a ton for everything.  We have been loving it.  I'm using the voice recorder to make some good messages to send you guys because its real easy.  I think little by little i'll get used to talking to it, and I can send better messages.  I hope you like the ones I sent though :) 

This week we also did an activity with the MTC.  The missionaries come to our zone and work with us for a day. It was a lot of fun.  Crazy to think that I was there almost a year ago, haha. It kind of freaks me out.  

Well, although it was a crazy week, I guess I don't have a ton to say about it, haha.  I love you guys, keep on keepin' on.  

Week 49!

Hey mom! Thanks for the long letter :) I appreciate it.  Sounds like a pretty eventful week.  I emailed grandpa to let him know I love him.  Haha, I love the story about "give Marci a raise. :) Haha, if I could could call and say the same thing :) 

This week was pretty good.  We felt like for the majority of the week we just didn't have a ton to do.  We have some really good investigators that we have been working a lot with, so we really have been spending a lot of time for them.  But we really felt like we needed new investigators.  We did a lot of contacting (tracting?) and we didn't have a ton of success. But we kept trying and working, and I guess in the end, the Lord saw our diligence and blessed us with some new people to teach. :)  It came down to yesterday and we barely had any news, but a member brought 2 friends to church! So we talked to them and set an appointment to pass by yesterday after church.  They accepted, and we went over.  They lived there with two other people who were really excited to listen.  So in the end, we got 4 new investigators.  It was pretty awesome.  Its really cool when the ward participates in the mission work, it makes it a lot more efficient.  

Also, we had interviews with the president this week.  I always like to bring questions to my interviews because the president pretty much knows everything.  He is super smart and can help with everything.  So I pretty much asked him about everything.  We have some investigators who are progressing really well, but just aren't ready to get baptized, so I asked what I could do to help them.  He really helped me out a lot.  I also asked him what I can  do to help my district more, and he helped a ton.  Really a super smart man.   In the end my interview was like an hour...I think it bugged everyone else but hey, it helped out.

Being a district leader is pretty cool.  It's kind of the best of all the leadership positions. Everyone wants to be a district leader.  It's fun.  My district is a lot of fun.  For the most part, sisters always work really hard, and they don't have any problems with disobedience, so it's not very difficult.  Overall my district has a lot of success so I'm really happy.

This week we have a Christmas activity with the mission.  It should be pretty fun, I think I am going to get to see a bunch of old friends from the mission which will be a ton of fun. :) Also we have another Christmas party with the ward, which should be cool too.  I think we are going to sing a hymn or something.  Maybe I'll sing some metal or something, I don't know.  Its supposed to be a talent show, so maybe I'll punch dance.  

So that's pretty much it from this week. I hope everything is going well for you guys in Eutaw.  Love and miss you guys.   Keep on keepin' on.  Talk to you soon :) the computer is super slow so I'll try and send photos in a bit. 

Week 48!

Hey mom! This week was pretty alright.  We had a lot of fun contacting with the churches "Light the World" thing they are doing again...but how wierd.  That was my farewell talk.  I'm already about to hit a year!! Ah! I don't believe it.  I'm already coming up on the halfway mark.  Holy cow.  

Haha the contacting was pretty good.  We made sure that just about all the members in the ward received a few "Ilumina el Mundo" cards so we'll see if we can get them all to hand them out :) we also did a ton of street contacting, and found a few new people to teach, so you can't go wrong there.

This week we also had exchanges with the zone leaders this week. It was fun, the only problem in that whenever we do exchanges...every appointment falls through.  Hahaha, that's just how they always go though.  It was even weirder because we didn't have water for a big chunk of the day...so we didn't get to shower until after lunch, hahaha.  All is well, all is well. 

Today was transfers!  Elder Hancock and I are both staying, but sadly 2 sisters from my district (Hermana Dorado, and Hermana Miranda) got transferred.  I know Dad said that some sisters could be a pain in the butt, but here they seem to be the best workers, haha.  They both left this morning, and I'll get to meet the new sisters this Friday when we have district meeting.  It's also weird...we had a district of 4 elders and 4 hermanas, but they moved the elders to another district...so now it's just me, Elder Hancock and 4 hermanas in the whole district.  All is well, I can tell it is going to be a successful district.

Saddish news.  We didn't even have LUNCH on thanksgiving...the members don't love us enough I guess, hahaha :), I kid.  So we ended up calling the sisters from our ward and asking if we could tag along with them for lunch...in the end, not so bad.  When we got home at night we tried to celebrate, but all we could really do was eat ramen noodles and watch the cool Bible videos the church makes.  WOOO.  WHAT A PARTY.  

Thanks for everything mom :) you're number 1!  Thanks for everything.  I'm sure everything will work out with your job :) 

Also...I've tried the google drive thing 100 times and I can't get it to work.  It keeps telling me to set the correct time and date...but no matter what I do it doesn't work.  I'm sorry :( ill keep trying :)

Week 47!

Hey mom! Congrats on the JetBlue grad! Sounds like a tough experience but I'm glad its over.  Good thing it all ended up well.

This week was pretty alright for us. Not a lot happened.  We weren't able to find that many new investigators, but that's okay, we were able to work quite a bit with the people we were teaching last week.  Lot of work to do :)

Also, this week was kind of weird because we had some other random things we had to go do.  The stake held a blood drive this week, and they asked all the missionaries from the stake to come help.  We all went and had to contact outside of the church and try and get people to donate blood.  It was kind of interesting...a lot of people know we are missionaries so it was a quick "No" and walk away. So some people you had to tell them after they already denied "It's just a blood donation" and they sometimes turn around and go "Ah, cool" and take a flyer and go in, haha.  I think the best part of the blood drive was when we ran in and grabbed a hymnbook and sang as loud as we could to contact.  We would have 3 people sing and the other would hand out flyers.  Haha, I don't know if it really worked but we had a lot of fun doing it.  

Also...today we literally took a portal back to freaking Costco.  It's a store here called Pricemart, and its just Costco's divorced wife or something.  We have a member who let us borrow their card and so you KNOW we hit that up.  We found all kinds of good stuff.  It's kind of hard though because they are basically American prices, and they sell everything in bulk to it's a bit much for a missionary budget.  We did what we could though :)  It was super weird...we are just walking down the aisle dying at everything we see, and all the sudden we hear a bunch of people speaking English.  What the heck??  So we look at them and go "hey, uh, are you gringos?" and they go, "Oh hey!! What ward are you guys from?" and we were like, "huh? Gringos...and members??" haha, it kind of freaked us out.  That doesn't happen too much down here.  They were super nice, and gave us some shopping tips.   They (or their husbands) work in the US embassy so they all live down here.  Super crazy run-in.  They were super nice too, they invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner even.  Sadly, it's outside of our mission, but they were super nice to invite us.  They even bought us lunch after.  Super cool experience, haha!

After our cool Costco experience we headed over to a mall called Hayuelos (where JUMBO is) and went bowling as a zone. It was cool and really a lot of fun.  I'm still pretty awful at bowling but that's okay I still love it.  And heck, Elder Hancock freaking killed it.  Who woulda thought, haha.

And that's kind of the week! Not a ton happened, but  just enough to keep it interesting :)  Love you guys, keep on living large.

From Jessica Wilcox (pictured): Saw your cute son at PriceSmart today and want to share! We invited him to thanksgiving, but we live in the Bogotà north mission so they didn’t think they could come! He seems to be doing well. They were so cute, we gave them some cash to buy lunch and they tried to give us the change back.  It was fun to run into them.  Keep my name somewhere in case you or he needs some help (we forgot to tell them our names).  We American members down here get it and are happy to lend a hand!