Week 93!

Hey mom!  Things are pretty good around here.  Not really much going on really...it wasn't a very good week in the mission work in our area this week, haha, so I really don't have much to say.  

Some kind of cool things though:

1.  We went and taught the colonel of the national police here is Neiva.  I'm sure you saw the photo. It was pretty funny because we had to get special permission to go into his office, and then a policeman escorted us to the office, and two goofy gringos, and a sister from the ward, walkin' around like we freaking own the place. So they show us to the office, and we walk in and he is in a conference with  a bunch of other people, and he sees us and goes, "Alright, lets take five," and everyone left while he listened to our message, haha. I'm surprised he took the time to listen because they were planning a meeting with the president of Colombia for the next day.  CRAY.  

2.  Today we found Dr Pepper.  They also had cherry flavored. #blessings

Yep.  That's about it really.  The tims are grat, and the grats are tims.  Love you guys, have a good week.

P.S.  I'm sorrry, I forgot to take pics this week and well the last time I plugged my camera in I got a virus and I think I permanently lost like 2 or 3 months of photos. So I'm not too motivated to plug anything into anything these days.

(thanks to Darrelyn Stearns for this pic!)

Week 92!

Hey mom! This week was cool.  I've been dying the whole week of the heat (It's been about 98-99 degrees during our workin' hours all week) so I'm literally exhausted.  Hopefully I'll get home nice and skinny, hahaha.  It's like living in a sauna and never being able to leave.  Even our room is this tiny little thing with no windows so we just sweat all night. Greaat.  

We had a fun week with the work too.  The members here are really strong so we get a lot of referrals. It's real nice.  Last night we had a member invite us over to teach a friend and he had another buddy there that he invited to join the lesson.  We invited them to be baptized if they found out that these things were true and they were like "Of course!" So it was cool.  I was pumped.  

Time is doing the opposite of flying.  Its walking...very slowly.  Haha, I can tell this last stretch is gonna be a long one.  Ya casi.

Love you guys!  I hope you have a good week.  Keep it real!

Week 91!

Hey mom! All is well, I'm sorry, we kind of went shopping today in downtown Bogota and ran out of time.  That's why I pulled out some cash.  I was thinking it would be good to buy myself some clothes because they are cheap here, and I'm less fat than when I left.  So  figured we could count it as hristmas stuff. 

This week was weird.  SUUPER hot, but I'll be alright. I'm hopin' it sweats a few pounds off, haha.  Not really a lot went down this week. I'm still figuring out the area.  The ward is really strong which is awesome.  Members give a lot of references which is great.  Lovin' life. Things with Elder Stearns are going real well.  Haha, we just talk about nerd crap all day.  He is even willing to listen to me talk magic for a bit so its all good.  

Sorry, not a very interesting week. I'm hoping next week is better.  PS.  This photo is from my bday- it's the bday lunch Grammy bought us.

Week 90!

Hey mom! Transfers:  I'm in a new zone called Neiva, my new comp is Elder Stearns from Idaho.  The area is Granjas.  Pretty cool transfer.  So I actually used to make fun of Neiva.  It's considered one of the most successful zones in the mission so I'm happy to be finishing up the mish here.  I'm still a zone leader, which I'm slightly sad about, but Jeran says that means that I'm a good zone leader, because I don't want to be one. I was just kind of hoping to rest in peace as junior comp, haha.  It's gonna be fun though. I've known Elder Stearns for a while now so I know we are gonna have fun.  

Saying bye to Ibague was pretty sad.  I made a lot of friends there and had a lot of fun.  It was bitter sweet leaving, because I wasn't there for very long, but I didn't really want to end my mission there, so yeah. 

 Good times, and the tims are even grahter {Tanner lingo, for those of you who don't speak "Tanner"}. 

Love you guys, have a killer week.

#last12weeks

Week 89!

Hey mom! This was a good week! We got 3 baptisms which was rad.  They are a semi active family.  They were all real active in the church like 10 years ago but for some reason just quit going, but they all got pretty motivated when we invited the kids to get baptized.  So slowly but surely they are all coming back to church. :) It was cool though.  They were a reference from another family that we baptized one of their kids a few weeks back (Santiago) so we're getting a lot of work done.  Good stuff.  Also, I  would send pics, but the computer gave my camera a virus #dope.

Today we made tacos for lunch.  Real good.  Thanks for the taco packets.  It made for a real good pday.  

Sorry for the uninteresting letter, I don't really have much to say these days.  I think the mission coming to an end has just made everything look so normal.  YAY.

Love you guys, thanks for the letter.  Have a good week.

Week 87!

Hey mom!

Really not much to talk about on my end.  We didn't have a ton of time to work this week.  The president asked us to go to every house in our zone and take pictures of the mattresses (I know, weird. He just wants to make sure everyone is living okay).  So that took a bunch of time, haha.  Also, we had to go empty out a house, and then help some sisters in our zone move houses, so that was another day lost.  But hey, I can't be mad, we found 13 new investigators haha.  It was pretty cool.  A lot of them came from our 100 contacts. 

Also, a cool thing, we had some appointments fall through this week and so we sat down, and were thinking about what to do, when I saw a lady poke her head out of her house, look around, and walk back in.  I went "hey guys, let's go teach that lady" and we went up to the door, and she let us in to teach her and her family.  Pretty cool.  It was a real nice miracle that happened to us.  Gotta love it.

Again mom, I'm sorry I keep pulling money out.  I don't know what to do...the mission keeps requiring me to spend big money....and they're just not paying me back so I'm kinda screwed. I promise I'm not just blowing cash left and right.  I had to pay for the moving truck the other day, and I had to pay to get to Bogota today and then a bunch of taxis to help people move and stuff.  Sorry...I'm a bass.

Love you a ton mom, have a good week! #ihit20monthstoday.

Week 86!

Hey mom!  Thanks for the music you sent.  You're keeping my comp and me alive right now, haha. :)

-An AP challenged us and some other companionships to get 100 contacts in 2 days. It was pretty hard and exhausting but I'm sure we´ll get a ton of new investigators for it this week.

-My comp and I have become chefs. Which is pretty good.  We've been trying to good better in the house to waste less money and eat healthier. So far so good.

-We had 8 investigators come to church yesterdee which was pretty cool.  Can't go wrong there.

-There was a fireside here with the mission president, and he invited 2 investigators there (one of which doesn't feel like he is ready to get baptized) and president had an interview with him, and then called him out in front of the entire fireside and goes "Benito, I know you can change." And gave him a whole "just freaking get baptized man" in front of a ton of members.  So we're hoping to get some results soon.  

-Don't worry about calling, if you gotta, you gotta.  Especially if Collin needs to talk.

-That's about it.

Love you mom.  Thanks for everything. You're the best.  Have a good week.