June 12, 2017 - Veach and Elder Mann End Their Time Together Baptizing AGAIN!

Hey Y'all,

So we had transfers today.  I got moved to a different stake in Bogota and I'm now in an area called Bosa.  My companion is Elder Gambini.  He is from Argentina.  But the best part of the week was that we had another baptism to close out the transfer!  His name is Emmanuel and he is 16.   His cousin baptized him!  I was super pumped.  We got blessed big time because we worked our butt  off!  I'm so happy we had so much success here.  I'm going to have to go back there at the end of the mission!  Not a lot of time this week.  Here are the pics!  Love yall!

Matthew

Us with Emmanuel.  He's the tall one...

May 29, 2017 - Elder Veach and Elder Mann Baptize Again!

Sup Yall!

So this was another pretty slow week.  We only had one lesson and zero new investigators.  But Thursday, Friday and Saturday were awesome!  Thursday night we had the baptismal interviews for Chrisbel and her 12 year old son Esteven and they both passed!  Then on Friday I had exchanges with Elder Rivero, a new missionary who is a stud and we had so much fun that day, and Chrisbel(Investigator) and her boyfriend Leonardo(Kinda Active Member) got married!  Then on Saturday we had the baptism of Chrisbel and her son Esteven!  Elder Mann baptized Chrisbel and I baptized Esteven.  FYI  Esteven is really tiny so when everyone saw us in the font it was hilarious!  Then yesterday was the confirmation which also went great!  Then today I got to go to the temple for the first time since mid December which was nice.  And that was our whole week basically.  Nothing else really happened.  So here are the photos of the baptism and the exchanges!  Les quiero mucho!

Matthew

 White Night!

Us with Chrisbel and Esteban

 Me and Elder Mann with Chrisbel, Esteban(the little kid), and Leonardo(Chrisbels new husband)

 Me and Elder Mann with Chrisbel, Esteban(the little kid), and Leonardo(Chrisbels new husband)

May 22, 2017-transcibe this

Hey y'all, (this is a place holder)

So this is the first time I've really done this so I don't know how well this is going to work. So we'll see. I figured I'd just kind of talk about something every week. This week I thought I would talk about the baptism that we had two weeks ago with Angel. Sorry my voice sounds kind of weird I'm getting sick. So on Saturday, not this Saturday, but last Saturday in the morning we were doing our studies and we get a call from the missionaries that are in the other chapel that is in our stake because the chapel that we have doesn't have a baptismal font so every time we have a baptism we have to go over to the stake center about 20 minutes walking from here and we were talking to them and they had had a baptism for this lady with cancer and she should have died a week before her baptism and they were trying to set up her baptism before Angel so we were trying to do a baptismal service together with them and so they tried to we had kind of worked out a plan with our ward mission leader for how the baptism was going to go and then we had to call him and see if we could change up some stuff and he told us oh yah elders I can't be there so we were kind of freaking out. We had to do the program basically by ourselves. We were going to try to be over to the church at 2 or 3 but our lunch with the members that day was this family that lives 45 minutes walking from our house in the opposite direction from the stake center. So we walked up there got lunch and ran back got our suits on and ran over to the stake center and we were helping clean up

May 15, 2017 - The First Baptism and 10 Months!!!

Hey yall!

This week was awesome!  Well, the week was alright, but Saturday was awesome!  Firstly, and not very importantly, I hit 10 months!  Second, WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!  His name is Angel Salazar.  He is 27 years old and he is a freaking boss!  We found him through contacting an old investigator from about a year ago and he got baptized about 5 weeks later!  He is awesome.  He loves the Book of Mormon and loves the Church and already has a testimony that they are true!  He honestly is just a stud!  His baptism was one of the best experiences of my life!  Watching him come up out of the water and hearing his testimony at the end of the Baptismal Service was so cool!  It was for me a very real confirmation that God sees all of our efforts and our hard work and gives us blessing for them!  I love the gospel and I love this work and it changes lives!  I love y'all and have an awesome week!  Here are some pictures!

Pics 1 and 2.  Elder Mann and I with Angel and a priest who baptized him named Camilo!

May 1, 2017 - Luna Park Week 13

Well another week gone here in Luna Park.  The mission had transfers on Sunday, but Elder Mann and I are staying together for at least 6 more weeks.  Out of the 90 companionships in the mission 75 had transfers!  And they Changed the districts here.  So now Elder Mann is the DL and our District has 2 other areas that weren't there before...  So now our District is completely different.  But we'll see how it goes.  This week we helped C.... move out of her house because she and her "Husband" decided they can't live together so we moved her about a block away.  6 hours later we finished.  We didn't have any help from the ward.  So it was me, my comp, and her ex-husband.  So that's cool, but she and her son might get baptized on the 13th with one other of our investigators, but we will see.  That is about all that is going on right now I think.  Still working hard.  I love y'all tons!  Have an awesome week!

Matthew

April 24, 2017 - Welp Change of Plans this weekend...

Hey Family!

This week was hard.  We contacted a lot!  Our baptism fell through.  And our ward doesn't do very much.  So that was fun.  C.... and her future spouse decided that they didn't want to get married anymore less than 24 hours before the baptismal interview.  They got in a fight and now she and their son are going to move out.  The good thing is they are going to stay in the ward and she still wants to get baptized just when she moves out... But we'll see what happens.  So that was pretty disappointing, but we will get over it.  Um not much happening honestly.  Lots of contacting.  Today for P-Day the ZL(The only companionship in our zone that lives close to us) came over and made Mom's chocolate chip cookies and we played Risk for 4 hours.  So that was fun.  Transfers are on Sunday so we will see what is going to happen with that...  Anyways love y'all tons!  Talk to ya next week!

Matthew

Pic 1.  Me with our ward mission leader.

April 10, 2017 - The Blessings DO come!

Hey Fam!

This week was really good.  We had been contacting A LOT the last few weeks with almost no success, but this week we had several new investigators from all of our contacting!  Then we were in our English class on Tuesday and one of the counselors from the bishopric pulled us out to talk to us and told us that he had talked to C....(Investigator) and L....(Member) and said that they wanted to get married and had the papers and everything ready and want to get married and her to get baptized on the 21st of April.  To give a little background to this.  We were teaching C.... when I got here and they almost had all their documents and everything ready to get married.  Then about 4 weeks ago she decided that she didn't want to get married to L....., who is a member but they live together with their 11 year old son so she can't get baptized before she gets married, because they had been having problems.  We were stuck and we decided that we would let them both get counseling from the bishopric and see what happens, cause she didn't want to talk about it with us.  They are now, after lots of counseling, ready and excited for the marriage and her baptism!  They will get married on the 21st in the morning then they want to do the baptism as soon as possible so we are going to do it that same day in the afternoon.  They are so excited and happy and it is so cool to see the difference!  We now have a lot to do to get them  ready for the 21st!  Today for P-day we didn't really do anything.  Our zone is really lame and doesn't want to do anything...  Other than that don't know what else to talk about.  Spanish is doing good.  Slowly but surely we are getting there.  Love y'all!  Have a great week!

Pic.  Elder Mann and I eating lunch today in the apt.

April 3, 2017 - BOOOOOOOORING WEEK!!!

Hey!

So nothing much happened this week.  We just contacted A LOT!  We did have splits with the assistants and we had General Conference.  The Splits went well.  I was with Elder Mendoza from Ecuador, my uncle in the mission family, and it was fine.  He got on my shoulders at one point to give this old lady in a second floor window a Book of Mormon.  That was kinda funny I guess.  Then conference went well.  We watched 3 sessions in English and 2 in Spanish(Priesthood and Sunday Morning).  The conference was really good.  I really liked the talks from Elder Bednar and Pres Eyring in Priesthood!  Anyways, not much time and not much happened this week.  I hope y'all have a great week!  Love y'

all!

Matthew

Pic.  Elder Mendoza and I

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March 27, 2017 - "Are you both gringos?"

Hey!

This week was pretty good. Elder Mann and I get along really well. We have some problems sometimes because we both got the ADD so we can't focus to save our lives! We will be studying and someone will say something and we get super distracted, but it is pretty funny and we work hard so it is okay. We spent basically the whole week contacting because we don't have a lot of investigators. We didn't have a ton of success in finding news, but we got blessed with 2 investigators in the church on Sunday which was awesome! We had gone 2 weeks without investigators in Sacrament meeting so we were pretty pumped. My Birthday was on Saturday and to celebrate we contacted for 6 hours in the pouring down rain. That wasn't super fun but whatevs. I got my B-day package this week and opened it on Saturday morning. Mom you are awesome! Then we went to a members house here and we made cake there with them. That was fun! Then that night we ordered Dominos and ate a butt ton! Sunday was good. In gospel principles our investigator straight up showed up this less active who was kinda bashing on Joseph Smith and the BOM. She just proceeded to tell her what the BOM is and that it was true and that obviously the less active needs to read it more or she would know it is true too. Elder Mann and I just kinda looked at each other and tried not to laugh. The less active shut up after that. Today we didn't do a lot for Pday, but we organized the house a little. I hope all is well with yall! Thanks for everything! Love yall!

Matthew

Birthday Box!

Me with my Bday cake with the Ospina Family, They are awesome!

 My wall of pics by my desk now.

Elder Mann and I, sorry the photo is kinda blurry

March 20, 2017 - 6th Companion

Hey fam!

So this week was pretty long and difficult not going to lie. We didn't have any success in any facet of the work. Well, today we had transfers. Elder Tapia left for Ibague this morning. My new companion is Elder Mann. He is from Montana, USA and he has 17 months in the mission. He was in my Zone in Villao for 3 months so I know him alright. He is pretty cool and a hard worker so I am hoping that we can have some good success here. But we don't have anything right now so we are going to have to work like crazy to better the area. Anyway, we had a decent number of transfers in the zone. We now have in the zone 11 Gringos and 11 Latinos. Today for P-Day almost all of my time was spent helping with transfers because I was the Zone Leaders comp because his comp finished his mission. We went to the offices of the mission in the North of Bogota which has a crazy amount of security. It is kinda funny. Also, today we ate Dominoes in our apartment with the ZLs and one other missionary who is waiting for his comp to get here. So that was fun. My birthday is on Saturday! That is somewhat exciting! We gonna party that night after we get home! I think that is all that happened this week. I love y'all tons and I hope y'all have a great week!

Matthew

Elder Tapia and I on Sunday

Ward Party Sunday Night

March 13, 2017 - 8 Months and English Class!

Whats up!?

This week was pretty quiet. Not much happening here. We had a pretty decent week. We found 5 new investigators, but none of our investigators went to church so that was pretty disappointing. Anyway, this week we had a ton of rain! 2-3 hours every single day. Elder Tapia and I got super wet a few times. Also, something I forgot to tell y'all about is that we started an English class which is going well. We have classes every Tuesday and Friday night. There are 2 classes. One for adults with an English Professor who lived in NYC for 30 years and one for 10-16 year olds that I teach. It is honestly really nice to teach them. I didn't realize how bad I was missing teaching my swim lesson kids. It is super relaxing for me. It's fun to hang out with them for an hour. Um what else is happening here right now? I hit 8 months in the mish today! That was cool. We find out about transfers on Sunday. So there is potential that I will be writing y'all on Monday with a new comp. I'm starting to get super excited for General Conference in a few weeks! Sorry these are always really short, but I can't think of anything else happening so... I love y'all and have a great week!

Matthew

March 6, 2017 - Sickness and Rain

Hey yall!

How goes the living? This week was pretty slow. It rained almost every day. Elder Tapia was sick Tue, Wed, Thur so we didn't have a lot happening. Plus, literally none of our investigators could meet with us so that was a little difficult, but I'll live. But now I'm getting sick which is just super awesome. We had an investigator in church who is on track to get baptized on March 25th... If all goes well my first baptism in the mission will be on my Birthday! That'd be cool! Her name is D... and she started learning about the church in my first area (Marruecos 2) about 3 month after I left. She is 20 years old and is getting married to a less active guy so we are waiting on their marriage documents, again. For P-Day we watched church videos and ate inside. I don't think anything else interesting happened. I love y'all tons! I hope y'all have a great week!

Matthew

February 27, 2017

Hey y'all!

Not a lot is happening. We might have a baptism not this week but the coming week! We are pretty pumped about that! Her name is C... and she and her husband, who is a member, just got their documents so they want to get married this week then she can get baptized! Here are some pics! 

Love yall!

We raced GoKarts today for P-Day.

GoKarting was pretty fun. I was so happy to drive a little!

Villavicencio Zone before transfers.

District Esperanza (Hope) before transfers.

District Esperanza (Hope) before transfers.

February 13, 2017 - One Week in Luna Park and 7 Months!

Que mas!?

One week here and all is well in Luna Park. Also, today was 7 month day which is weird. Time flies like crazy here! The area here is pretty cool. It is a pretty chill part of Bogota which is cool. The ward is good! There are some awesome families here! We don't have a lot of investigators here, but we are going to change that.  There are 3 people who will probably get baptized in the next 3 weeks or so! Today, I found out that one of our investigators in Villao got baptized this week! I was talking to one of the Assistants and he told me about it! I was pretty happy, but a little sad too because once again the week after I leave my old area one of our investigators gets baptized. But what is important is that he got baptized! Um not much else is happening here. Yesterday, we went to try and visit a member who lives ridiculously far away and in the only dangerous part of our area. We walked 45 minutes to get there and the area was way sketch! Then they couldn't meet with us so we had to walk all the way back! But we are not going back over there! A. Way far away. B. I am way too white! Haha gringo problems. I had to bear my testimony in church yesterday, but the microphone holder was tiny so I had to hunch over the pulpit. I always try to get the congregation to laugh in my first testimony in the Ward/Branch and I was yet again successful! Anyway, that is all I got for y'all. No photos again this week. Sorry! I love yall! Have a great week!


Matthew

February 6, 2017 - ¿Guess Who is Back in Bogota?

Familia,

So I don't have a lot of time to write y'all and I don't have photos for y'all yet, but transfers came last night. I got the call at 930 pm that I needed to be at the bus terminal at 7am the next day. So that night I called a few people and packed then left the next morning at 8am. In the bus terminal I found out that I would be going to Ciudad Jardin, Bogota and my comp would be Elder Tapia. Elder Tapia is from Lima, Peru. He has been out in the mission for 20 months. And apparently there is a good chance he will leave in 6 weeks so that is awesome... gotta learn fast. It was sad to leave Villavicencio, but I was ready to leave. I promise a longer group email next week. Thanks for everything y'all!

Matthew

January 30, 2017 -

Hey y'all!

I hope you guys had an awesome week! This week was finally a little more interesting than normal. So first off Tuesday and Wednesday we had Splits with the Assistants that went really well. We have 4 Assistants here in Bogota South and 2 of them right now are just traveling around doing splits, primarily with missionaries who have less than a year and a half to help them grow as missionaries. But on Tuesday I was with Elder Stewart, from Colorado. Wednesday, I was with Elder Espinoza, from Ecuador. They are both really cool and excellent missionaries. Also, on Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary conference. It was about 3 hours and was awesome. They announced a change in missionary schedule which should be interesting. We don't officially have our new schedule until Friday after the mission leadership conference. Then I'll let y'all know exactly what's happening because every mission is going to have a different schedule. Today for P-Day we got to play bumper cars which was so fun! I ended up mostly just driving around trying not to get hit because it was fun to drive! I miss driving!!! Transfers are next week so we will see what happens with that. I finally have the computer that has an SD card portal so I'll send some pics! I love yall tons! Exitos!

Love Matthew

Elder Roque and I eating at this crazy expensive Peruvian place a few weeks ago!

Standing in the river in front of the Familia Gonzalezs' house (the white one).

Us with the Traveling Assistants!

Personal Study every day.

January 23, 2017 -

Alo Familia!

I hope all is well with all of you. This week went pretty well. We have some solid possibilities to have 2 baptisms next month! We had a branch missionary work activity last week where everyone in the branch was supposed to bring a friend and come and watch the Testaments. There were about 20 people there in total, which was better than the last one that we had! I love Colombia and Latinos!!! Other than that, nothing really happened this week! Tonight and tomorrow we have 2 of the 4 Assistants in our area working with us which should be interesting. Anyway, that's all I got for y'all this week. Sorry it isn't a lot. There just isn't much happening here right now. I love yall tons!

Matthew

January 16, 2017 - 6 MONTHS!!!

Hello,

Well, this week was really boring. Not much happening in general. We are contacting like crazy right now. I had intercambios this week so I went to the area of Elder Roque which was fun. For lunch that day a member with a lot of money took us to a Peruvian Restaurant because Elder Roque is from Peru and it was waaaaaay expensive! I felt so uncomfortable there! It was the most expensive place I have visited in about 6 months and it was just so weird to be there! On Friday I hit 6 months! Already! Time flies so fast here! It is crazy! It is weird to think about all the stuff that has happened in the last 6 months! It is cool to see the changes in yourself like that because usually you don't see it! It is funny that the Sisters that are just now getting here will leave with me and my group! Other than that not a lot happening. Still just working hard. Love yall tons! Hope all is well!


Love Matthew

January 2, 2017 - So I Baptized Someone This Week... But They Weren't My Investigator...

Hey y'all,

This week went really slow. Everybody here was drunk almost all week so that was a little hard. My new comp is doing all right. It is weird having a gringo around again. Almost all of our Zone right now is Gringos which is weird. They are always speaking in English, but it is fine. Pretty much nothing happened this week. On the 31st the Sister Missionaries in the Branch had 2 baptisms. An old guy who had one of his sons baptize him, and a Sister they have been teaching who wanted me to baptize her which was pretty cool. We spent the whole day cleaning and filling the font and other logistical stuff.  Other than that not much happened this week. I'm hoping we can get back to normal life this week, but we'll see. Anyway, love y'all and I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Gardner an I with Eliana (The Sister I baptized)

Elder Gardner an I with Eliana, her sister and her niece.

December 26, 2016 - PHOTOS!!!

Hey, so I talked to y'all less than 24 hours ago so I don't have a lot to tell you, but here are a butt ton of pics. I'll send another email later with a pic and some info about my new comp. Love yall!

Elder Hernandez teaching the Law of Chastity to a dog of a member family!

Elder Hernandez walking in my shadow because the sun here is crazy!

Christmas with the Gonzalez family!

We were excited about the box!

CHRISTMAS!!!

I love air conditioning!