Lord's hand in the work

 hey its been a few weeks so I figured I'd send an email 👍🤠

Ive been really good this last week! We encountered an ... interesting... guy, we got some new missionaries, I'm working on a new vid and broke my toe🥳

Our area doesn't have a lot of people so one day we just went straight contacting and ran into a jdub, I wanted to talk for so long but It wouldn't really do anything we decided to move on- then we found this dude who was super nice and told us to come back! 

After that there was a couple guys from Boston but somehow had broken English (no clue how that works) and he was in a biker gang for some time. He got super excited when I told him my mom and dad have bikes and he explained how he never wrecked because he put a poster of jesus on his chest when he rode 👍 mom and dad please start wearing a Jesus poster when you're riding; I've heard Utah traffic is only getting worse 🤠

Another day we met this lady who's jdub BUT she has memory problems and can't Bible bash with us because she doesn't remember the scripture references. So naturally we started teaching her and her family. She has two grandkids that are our age and are super cool- they asked for the church address and said they were interested 😁

Later that day we asked a guy for a dirrection and he asked about the church! We asked if he's religious and he then explained to us his .. beliefs....? I was informed that all of us are actually offspring of reptilian humanoids and homosapiens- called scraps. 🦧🦎🦧🦎 he proceeded to enlighten us in saying that every 100 years there's a major disease in the world, obviously caused from the two galaxies colliding and becoming "crossable" (our galaxy is the holographic one, which is why we're apparently holographs) he asked if I understood him and told him "even though I understood your Spanish just fine, I've never been more confused" when he shook our hand to go I gave him a pamphlet hoping that maybe he'd read it. He told us to read numbers 11:11 and look up his religion on YouTube.🤯  he didn't even sound drunk either

Other than that it's been good! I've seen the Lord's hand in the work and I want to share my testimony that the church is true! I know that God- a perfect being- loves YOU, an imperfect being. That means that you have divine potential and God's perfect vision of you gives you purpose in this life! I know were not a weird reptilian/homosapien mix but RATHER children of a loving Heavenly Father, and we are capable of becoming like Him through his Son Jesus Christ

we stood where it should have been

 Hey everyone! these past few weeks have great we had to do more house audits and traveled ALL DAY on tuesday and wednesday, we saw some miracles, and I feel like I've spiritually grown a lot!

sometimes we will plan lessons with inactive members to help them come back to church. a couple weeks ago I was looking through a list of the members in our ward, theres about 500 of them. I was scrolling through and was writing down addresses to contact, and I felt the Spirit SO strong telling me to go to a specific house. We went there that night and the address was so old that the house didn't exist anymore. As we stood where it should have been, a neighbor came out and started talking to us. We're now teaching him because of is interest in the gospel! I know that the gift of the Holy Ghost is a divine help given to us from God to serve as a guide in our earthly lives! 

I have been able to study more recently, and it has really been such a blessing for me. I love reading the Book of Mormon and seeing the powerful examples and people that are found in it. I want to testify of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, and the love and happiness that can really be achieved through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Other than that, its been pretty normal. Ill keep the updates coming every week (month)!!

This pics a tarde Blanca- our zone had some baptisms on Saturday!

peace amidst stress and trials

 Ey que más!

This week was good! Tons of super sick stuff

Pday we had sushi! It was some pretty yummy stuff 😋🤓

This week I've been SUPER busy because it was the beginning of a new transfer, so I was figuring out a bunch of broken phones that all the missionaries magically got in the last three days...😵‍💫 We also picked up some new missionaries from the airport and gave them a little presentation on the mish

We went to a Latino area- where only Latinos are allowed cuz of safety reasons- because my comp had to audit like 20 houses. Wednesday through Fridaywas straight traveling 😮‍💨 it was cool seeing it all though! I used the bus trips to edit videos for a general conference invite and music video

Friday night we got back and had just enough time to contact a couple inactive members who are SWEET! They had this dog that literally looked like a balloon. Like no joke it didn't have a tail and it's body was a cylinder. It was like 17 years old and it's 18 year old blind dog-friend named precious... pretty sure it was a stuffed animal....

Yesterday was the anniversary of our mission President and his wife! They asked if I could take pictures for them and they talked to us about stories during their 30 years on Sunday. I'm grateful to be able to know them more recently and I've found how humble and forgiving they are.

Saturday and Sunday were AWESOME because of general conference! I loved Elder Eyrings talk about how peace is a gift from God. Life's really hard, but thats ok! God is watching over us because we're his children, and he wants us to become something better than we can imagine! This week I was able to find peace amidst stress and trials because I could feel God's love for me through prayer.

Pics:

Sushi 🍥

That one Latino area- that white guy is me

Some Peruvians from the new group of missionaries 

Our mission facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/VenirACristoEnLaCostaCaribe?mibextid=ZbWKwL

follow it porfa 

spiritual experience he had the previous night!

 Hey guys this week was good! I've  been working on a couple videos, got alfredo baptized and we got transfer news yesterday

During this last week we were preparing a guy named alfredo for baptism,  but he didn't feel ready. We thought he eventually wouldn't accept, but the day before his baptism he accepted because of a spiritual experience he had the previous night! It was pretty awesome to see!

The american Elders leaving tomorrow so it's just me and Elder Hernandez now! This upcoming week I'll be traveling a lot to audit houses with my comp. We're gonna eventually hit up every house in the mission 

Pics:

Elder hernandez and my $2 watch 🤑🤑🤑

She makes good popcorn 😋😋🍿 

Our good friend alfredo and some members 🤗👍

Lastly we became a branch officially!!!

 

Uh sorry It's been a while but here's my email for the last like 2 1/2 months 👍

Honestly so much has happened I'll touch on some main stuff that happened pretty recently

December in Colombia is the hottest month there is because it doesn't rain during that time... basically there's two seasons: hot with rain, or REALLY hot without rain. Luckily they sell little bags of water for like 1/5 of a penny so those were life savers.

During December we celebrated Christmas, met the first lady of Colombia, found the phone I lost in the last email, we were strangely happy to find out someone wasn't married, I got a violin, transfer news said I'm gonna be in my baby area for 7 months, we saw a bull fight, our area 70 spoke to us, and WE'RE A BRANCH NOW BABY

🤠I found the phone I lost like 3 months ago on a bus when some dude (he was like 5 feet tall) walked up to us and said he had it! That was a nice miracle because we would've had to pay for it... I think that's the first time anyone has ever gotten a lost phone back in Colombia🤩 

The first lady actually pretty nice! We represented the church at some event because tons of supplies were donated to people that had pretty much nothing. We went with some members from the big city and it was super fun! 

I bought a violin because it's fun 🎻 I need more ideas for songs like if you got any 👍

A member family in our area is working on getting baptized so the guy can be worthy of tye priesthood and his wife can be baptized- but like every other fetching person in Colombia- they're not married 😀 the guy said he had a previous marriage and they went to check the legal documents and they never got legally married - only in the catholic church. Basically this means they don't have to get divorced which is SO much easier. Love seeing the Lord progress the work and lifting burdens!

There was a cool "bull fight" were a bunch of guys hop in a stadium and chase around a bull that's trying to stab em 🦬 fortunately no one died this time but some dudes did find bull horn where it shouldn't be

Our area 70,- Elder Becerra- and his wife spoke to us and it was incredible!! I truly felt the spirit so strongly and he gave awesome thoughts on Jacob's ladder in Genesis and the temple covenants- and how the baptism and marriage (first and last covenants made in the temple) have the Son, The Father, and the Holy Ghost. 

Lastly we became a branch officially!!! We've been a family group for someone's and the application to be a branch was submitted- meaning we'll get a bigger meeting place and some leadership! Super excited to stay for 7 months and see the progress!!

Shout-outs:

mom for teaching me about Jacob's ladder and being the scriptorian she is

My comp Elder Silva for not getting too trunky on his last transfer💀💀

bleach for being invented

Elder Zavaleta and Rendon for leaving on the iron for three days 🤦

Pics:

We killed a tarantula and told an elder it's a toy - I didn't feel that bad until he realized it...

Nap-time on the bus!

Iguana eggs: taste weird but the iguana tasted like BBQ chicken 🐔 🦎

Church! 

Some quick dips in the local pool with white clothing and *real* priesthood authority! 

(Just a baptism don't worry President)

Medical People

 Johnny went with an elder from the other companionship in his apartment to go feed the starving dogs in this elders area. While going Johnny felt prompted to take his journal. While out they saw a crippled man in a wheelchair. They wheeled him up the hill to his home, to find he needed help. They noticed all the filth. His bed was crawling with bugs. They changed his sheets then scrubbed his clothes in a bucket of water. The Man watched them work. He kept saying your medical people. No the elders would respond were elders missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ. How the world will ever have is the truthfulness of the gospel and the greatest healer the world will ever know is Jesus Christ our. The Man watched them work. He kept saying your medical people. No the elders would respond were elders missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ. How true the man’s words were. The greatest medicine in the world will ever have is the truthfulness of the gospel and the greatest healer the world will ever know is Jesus Christ our savior and redeemer .

Very prepared for us

 Hey! It's been awesome here in El Carmen! These last few weeks have felt exciting; we witnessed the Lord's hand SO much, some drunk guy sat on me, we got in some newspaper articles, we impersonated a cop, I lost our phone, and we witnessed a little 3 year-old kill a baby chick. 

We see the Lords hand so much, especially with our members and traveling. A member was remembering when they saw us and he said he felt impressed to walk over and talk to us. He'd been inactive for a while and he is a huge part of our future branch now!

The Lord won't break the "law of the land" but fortunately he has his Colombian disciples to do it for him: On one of our bus rides home, there was a LOT of traffic, so much that we would've gotten home super late. I was getting worried when the bus driver flicked on his red & blue flashing lights with his siren and he started speeding up... we were all laughing at the long line of angry cars we had just passed and we made it home in time!

We met a former mayor of our city who did the local newspaper. He was SO excited to see us and invited us in. He'd been asking for missionaries for a long time and found us. He said we can put anything we want in the newspaper; he's an amazing guy who was very prepared for us. 

One bus ride we were sitting next to some drunk guys, one was asking me what his tequila was called in English so I told him he was drinking weenie juice. They had to throw up so they just sat on me on their way out of the bus...

We're teaching some people that sell chicks after they dye them and as they were roaming around the floor, this little 3 year old accidentally stepped on one and when we showed her its broken foot and neck she started laughing... we're debating between plan of salvation or the "don't murder" commandment for the next lesson haha

There's a long update! Appreciate you all!