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!

December 25, 2016 - Merry Christmas to the Mom!!!

We had a wonderful Skype call with Matthew today! He is doing really well and it was comforting to see him and hear his voice!

Matthew on Skype at Internet Cafe

We also received some pics of his Christmas from the family that he had Christmas with and that feed him every day! 

December 19, 2016 - BOOOOOORING Week

I literally can't think of anything that happened this week so here are some pictures! I will be Skyping at 5pm on the 25th!


Matthew

When it's HOT in Villia!!!!

Elder Hernandez and I in front of the Temple.

 Blurry but still, AMERICA!

Merry Christmas from President and his wife!

We got SOAKED the other day!

We saw a freaking Iguana while were walking this week!

December 12, 2016 - I Forgot Lots of Things About Bogota Since I Left....

Hola Familia!


I hope all of y'all are doing awesome! This week we went to Bogota to go to the temple and have a training with the whole mission. 200 missionaries! So we left on Tuesday at about 4pm and got into Bogota at 830pm, but we were sleeping in Soacha which is 2.5 hours from the temple and an hour from the Stake Center where we had our meetings, so that was fun. The temple on Wednesday was good. My first time in 4 months so that was nice. Then Thursday was our meeting as a mission. That was kind of crazy, but pretty cool too. I got to see all of the people in my group and from my last zone. The trainings were okay. Nothing special but good. At the very end we sang Called to Serve in Spanish the whole mission together which was crazy powerful! 200 missionaries singing Called to Serve super loud. Then we went to the bus terminal at 5pm that night and went back to Villavicencio. Got home at 1030 pm. So yeah nice trip, but I had forgotten so much about Bogota! For one, how cold it is (it's not but I have adjusted to the climate here)! How ugly it is. And way more! Also mama I got my Xmas box while I was in Bogota so thank you for that! Elder Hernandez is trying 2 or 3 times a day to get me to open it... But I am waiting for Christmas for it. I just don't know right now if I will open it at 12am like they do here or early in the morning of the 25th like they do at home so idk... Anyway, other than that not much happening. We have transfers in 2 weeks so that will be fun. We had the District Conference of Villavicencio on Sunday. The missionaries were the choir... And we had a special musical number which I had to sing a solo for 2 parts which was just awesome! Other than that, I don't think anything is happening. I can't send pics this week because my computer doesn't have a slot for an SD card so maybe next week. Love yall tons! I hope yall have a great week!


Matthew

December 5, 2016 - Suuuuuuper Boring Week!

Hey yall!


Welp nothing happened this week. Just lots of working. Summer is officially here in Villavicencio. Before it was hot, now it is a whole new level. Before the sun felt hot,now you can feel the sun burning you and heat coming off the pavement hitting you too! It is the worst sandwich in the history of sandwiches! The heat sandwich! But there is still rain right now which is very good! Other than that nothing suuuper memorable. We had the Christmas Devotional yesterday. That was really good. If you didn't get to watch it you should go back and watch it on LDS.org! We had to go to the other Chapel that is about 20 minutes from here in Taxi, but it was good. There were about 40-50 people watching in Spanish in the Chapel and another 6-10 watching in English in the Family History Center. So that was good. I watched it in Spanish with Elder Hernandez and one of the Zone Leaders. The other 4 gringos and Elder Valverde and Elder Roque went and watched it in English. Elder Hernandez was very proud Daddy when I said that I wanted to watch it in Spanish.  I don't think there is anything else! I will be in Bogota Tues-Thurs. The whole mission will be in Bogota for these 3 days. About 200 missionaries so that will be a party maybe... Thank you all for all of your prayers and for everything! Y'all are awesome!


Matthew

When it is waaaay hot in Villao..

Thanksgiving in Villavicencio

I found these sunglasses in the old house so now I use them because it is very bright!

 Playing with Machetes...

The Crew for our Service Project today. The Elders of Esperanza and one of the Young Men in our Branch.

 Us with a Young Man in our Branch who is awesome!!

November 28, 2016 - WE FINALLY MOVED!!!

Hola Familia!


I hope that all of your Thanksgivings were good! I was super trunky during Thanksgiving. And no to all the questions of if Thanksgiving is a holiday here no it is not. Just lots of stuff on the news making fun of all the fat Americans all day. Also, no we did not do anything as a Zone for Thanksgiving. 70% of my zone are Latinos so we didn't do anything. So that night at 9pm when we got back to the house I ordered Pizza from Dominoes and ate Dominoes and drank Coke in the Hammock that was on our front porch then I went to bed and that was Thanksgiving. The next day we moved which was all day which sucked because after not wanting to do anything for the whole day before I wanted to work like crazy the whole next day so that was a little frustrating but whatever. But yeah not much happening. Oh yeah last week I had to give another talk in Sacrament meeting. I learned about it 15 minutes before the meeting so that was super fun. A Counsaler in the Mission Presidency and his wife were visiting and they wanted to hear a talk from one of the missionaries in the Branch. So naturally President Rojas(Branch Pres) chose the only one of the missionaries who can't speak Spanish which was just awesome, but it was fine. Five minutes talking about the Gospel of Christ then 5 minutes about how to share the gospel for people who don't want to leave their comfort Zone. It was fine. Not great not awful. Then President Garzon and his wife spoke to finish the meeting. Anyways. Not a lot happening here. Next week the Zone is going to Bogota for a Training and to hang out with President and his Family so that should be fun. That is on 12/8. Also if you haven't seen the stuff the church has for Christmas this year y'all should check it out! Anywho, I believe that is all. I love yall! Have a great week!


Matthew