Week 74!

Hey, Mom I'm sorry, I don't really have time to write because I'm in the offices and just have a little bit of time.  But I wanted to let you guys know that I'm workin' hard, and doin' what I can.  We saw some good miracles this week. :) We've had some really cool lessons with an investigator named Alexander who should hopefully get baptized soon. :) I'm glad to hear that you guys are on vacation, I hope you have (or had) a killer anniversary. Love you tons.  You're the best parents anyone could ever have.  I'm glad you guys got married.  Thanks.  LOVE. 

Week 73!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Mom and Dad!!!  

I totally feel you on the now much to write about mom...laundry, clean, work, repeat. Legit the same dang thang.

But I guess I can write about some interesting experiences about this week.  To start off, we were running short on new investigators this month to be able to reach our goal, so we set our goal a little higher this week to be able to make up for the last 2 weeks we were short on.  So we decided to set a goal of 8 to make up for it, and we freaking got 10!  Haha, it felt pretty good because we didn't have to freak out about getting news, we just made good plans and followed them.  The president has been on a pretty big kick about planning well and reaching goals lately so it's helped quite a bit.  We even found a family that just got back from living in the USA for a few years.  They  lived in Florida, New York, and New Jersey, but it was hard for them to get work and a visa so they came back.  But they want me to help them with English so that they can head back.  They also really understand the message we shared too.  I know our purpose is to teach the gospel, but I get nervous when people want me to teach them English because I'm not a dang teacher, haha. I just choke and go, "Well, what do you want me to teach?" So we'll see how that goes in the future.  So that was a pretty good experience.  

Today's Pday has been pretty uninteresting.  We wanted to go to a Rodizio that there is here, but they decided to not open today for some reason so that failed and other than that nothing at all has happened, hahaha.   I did buy a pineapple though, which is the best.  Cost me 2000 pesos which is like 70 cents and it's heccin delishus.  Nothin' beats the heat like chompin' down on a pineapple that's super sweet and costs less than a dolla.  #dreamlyfe

Oh yeah and I ran into this couple visiting from Provo.  Real nice people and it was cool to talk to them.  They wanna meet up after the mish and make Colombian food.  I left them with your name so if they add you on fayboo you know who it is.

And yeah that's my dang lyfe.  It's been real good.  This week I hit 17 months.  Enduring to the end.  WOO.  Much love.  You're the best.  Chaoitos.

P.S.  Sorry, not a lot of pics this week. Not much interestingness happened...although I did buy 3 dollar cologne and it smells pretty good.  I guess that's kind of interesting.

Week 72!

Hey, Mom! Sorry, this is going to be a short letter because we had to go hunting for an internet cafe to write in because they are all closed for Mother's Day, and the one we found has the worst keyboard ever, so it's a little hard to write.  Well, I kind of already told you guys about this week when I talked to you yesterday anyway.  Everything has been pretty good in my area, and I'm pretty happy to stay another transfer.

 

So, funny story, we were pretty sure that I was heading out, so I said by to everyone at church at took photos and everything, because I just thought I was out....so now I have a bunch of goodbye pics with everyone and I didn't even leave.  Gotta love it.  I do love my area though, so I'm happy that I will be able to work here a little longer.

Today we went and made lunch with Elder Christensen and Elder Vargas.  It was pretty fun, we made "arroz chaufa" which is the Peruvian version of chinee rice [Tanner lingo for "Chinese"].  We also made stir fry from the little packets you guys sent. SUPER GOOD.  Haha, it was a ton of fun.  Then we went and hit the downtown and pretty much walked around and died of heat for an hour. WOO! So that's been my week, sorry its so short...it literally hurts to type on this keyboard.  MUCH LOVE see you guys!

P.S.. good Skype chat yesterdee

Happiest Mother's Day!!

We had the best talk with Elder Leishman for Mother's Day!  He bore his testimony and shared many great experiences.  He is loving his mission!  He loves the people and Colombia.  He is definitely missing music though, maybe even more than his family.  Haha!  He also got to talk to Kolman and Griffin, and Elder Tucker Johnson by Skype!

Amazing and blessed day!  We love Elder Leishman!

Week 71!

Hey, Mom! I feel ya, not much goin' on here either.  Just working on missionary stuff as usual.

This week was pretty busy, but not with really any cool missionary stuff, just travellin' and what not.  We had to go to Bogotá for the leadership counsel, which was cool I guess. It's just a lot of talking about numbers, and a lot of sitting and listening.  It's good, and definitely necessary, but I just can't sit still for that long.  It started at 8 and ended at like 5.  And 90% of it was just sitting. Holy dang shiz.  I was dying.  But we did learn a lot of good useful stuff.  Nothing really interesting for you guys though.  

We were a little worried on Saturday because we had only found 1 new investigator in the week, and we hadn't reached our goal, so we decided to go out and contact.  It's kind of hard contacting in our area because there really aren't that many houses, so we sometimes just go exploring for new houses.  So we finally found a street where we could contact.  We got some good appointments set up, but we still hadn't found any new investigators.  So we saw a guy out on his patio kicking a soccer ball with his kid, and we went up and started talking to him.  We got like 10 seconds into talking to him when he went "Hey dawgies, you guys are Christians, right?" and we said, "Yeah man you know it." And he goes "Cool my dudes, my mom is Christian, she'll wanna talk with you." And so he went and grabbed his mom, and she came out and started talking to us, and then invited us in so talk.  We got to share with her, her son, and her son's friend.  They all understood the message pretty well.  The lady was a little nervous about the Book of Mormon (because its not The Bible) but she said she is willing to give it a try and read it.  Plus she believes real heavily in prayer, so if she actually reads and prays like she said she would, she should receive an answer.  The other kids said they were willing to give it a try too.  Blessin's.

Other than that we really didn't have a ton of time to do missionary work.  Oh well though, ya take what you can get.

ALSO! I received the package finally!  Haha it was like Christmas dang day! Elder Layza and I have been eating candy and Takis like crazy.  Lovin' it.  Thanks a ton guys, you're the best.  My hair is lookin' good too.  Also, the christian lady we were teaching asked me what product I use because I don't have any zits, and I don't use anything, I just use HQ shave stuff.  Haha, gotta love it. 

Thanks for everything, Mom.  I hope you have an awesome week. I hope your work is going well for you.  Much love.

Week 70!

Hey Mom!

Semi-interesting week.  We did quite a bit of working.  Gimme a sec. I'm trying to remember what even happened this week.

Oh yeah! Haha, so this week we were just walking to an appointment and we heard a song we liked from a nearby bar, so I made elder Layza walk slow so we could listen to it (#rebellious) so he bent down to tie his shoe (to take up more time) and when we stood up to walk away, a guy went "Hey, don't leave yet, I want to invite you for a soda," and he invited us in to a little empanada restaurant and gave us empanadas and Colombiana [soda].  He told us that he wasn't  a member, but he had an old friend from a while back who was a member, who served a mission in Argentina.  And that he wrote his friend on the mission and his friend told him "Hey, the mission is real hard, so if you ever see the missionaries walkin' around, you need to buy them a drink." Haha, super cool blessing.  We got talkin' with the guy and he was telling us about his life and he said "But apart from this I want you guys to come visit me at home and teach me about your church."  So we went and visited him after 2 days and he's a super cool investigator!  His name is Fabio.  The best part is that hes been writing to his returned missionary friend and he's got a real good support on that side.  He said he's gonna come to church on Sundee so I guess we´ll see how that goes!!! 

Today we had a sweet fishin' trip out in a place called Restrepo.   Suuuper fun.  You'll all be proud to know that it was my idea.  It was pretty funny because everyone's Latin comps were like "ehhh...fishing? What if we just played socceeerrr" and all the gringos were like "nah, we always freaking play soccer, we're goin' fishing." And we did.  It was wayyyy fun.  It was a little fishing plantation out in the middle of this sweet farm.  It's a "pay for what you catch" deal, and its a little less than 2 bucks a pound.  Then afterwards we went to the Silva Families house and fried 'em all up.  It was a dang dream.  Dad and the boys would have loved it.  I was thinkin' we all come down here for a few days and stay in a "Hotel Campestre" (look up Hotel Campestre, Restrepo, Meta and you'll see) and just fish and eat and fish and eat.  Not gonna lie, I know I left you guys thinkin' I hate fishin', but I've been missing goin' fishin' like crazy so it felt good to just get out and catch, hahaha.  I'm pumped to come down with you guys.

So yeah! It's been a great week.  Love you guys like crazy! Hope you have a good week.  Much love.

From Tanner:  listen to the song my comp is reading in this edition of "Music and the Spoken Word" (courtesy of Elder Layza)

Week 69!

Hey, Mom! Sorry if this letter is a little short, we went hiking today and got back a little late!!! Sorry, I'm a little short on time.  It sounds like you guys are all having a lot of fun living the dream at home.  I'll give a short run down of what life is like in the 100 degree weather dream.

This week was pretty cool. We had a miracle baptism, haha.  When Elder Nielsen and I were making goals for this month, I told him that we had zero investigators that were gonna get baptized, and if we set a goal above zero we are lying to ourselves (haha, I guess I'm not much of an optimist) and when Elder Layza got here, I explained that that was the sitch.  But I also let him know of some people who had come to church before, and could possibly maybe get baptized maybe.  So he said, "do you wanna get a baptism this month?" and I said "yeah boi you know it." So that's what we heckin' did.  Her name is Maria and she is a less active member's daughter.  She was super pumped (and also pretty nervous ) to get baptized, but she arrived at her baptismal date ready to do it!  We have the "Noche Blanca" sign, which means we had 4 or more baptisms in a single baptismal service (we had 5 WOO!!) and it was super cool.  Haha, a little girl named Sara (who is the sisters' convert) wanted me to do the baptismal ordinance for her because one time at a ward activity I played frisbee with her, so that's why I'm in the white clothes.  Haha, crazy night.

Today was real cool, we spent most of the day in the dang sun and I'm BURNT.  But it's cool, I think I'm getting more and more tan every day #sexy.  I hope you like the pics.

Thanks for everything, Mom! You're the best!  I hope you have a grat week. PEACE.  Good luck with your car.