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