Walking the Hills of Robledo

Hola My Amigos,

So my new area in Robledo and it is pretty sweet. We walk a lot (shocker). The only problem is that Robledo is all one big hill so its up and down all day long. The members here make up for the hills. They are awesome. The ward council is amazing. The leaders are all working hard to help out the members and the investigators, it is just great. I am really liking my new area and the people.

Well our apartment is made for two but there are 4 living here. It is cramped but its fun to have 4 guys. We have bunk beds because there is almost now space. I sleep on top because the top is awesome plus I get an amazing view of the city through the window.

The neighborhood is nice. Its not super poor but its not the richest area either. We do have a store like right next to our house so we can buy stuff without having to hoof it up any hills so that is always a nice bonus. I think I’m going to be losing even more weight and I’m not big right now as it is.

My new comp is great. He was my zone leader from the last transfer when I was in the coast near Cerete. His name is Elder Benitez and is from Mexico. He went to the same high school as Elder Gomez so thats kinda funny. He is really cool and relaxed, but knows that we need to work hard so basically he is just like me.

Now that we are in Medellin we are still being fed lunch by the members. I think that will stay the same my whole mission since lunch is their biggest meal. The lunches are a bit better but not much from my last area. Don’t get me wrong, the food is nice but boring. Its always rice and tomatoes and cucumber almost ever day. It is just not fun. Normally they taste fine, some taste good but they are all the same. I swear if I come home and we eat a ton of rice I will snap, it will be on the news and everything. 

So for p-day today we are going to buy things in the city center. They have a bunch of stuff super cheep there, so I should have some goodies to share. I’m pretty excited. My last area was just too small for some stuff. 

So its only February and all the snow is gone back home? How sad. I miss the snow but I don’t miss driving with stupid people in it our the random old ladies that seem to constantly be rear ending our family.

Also it is true about what you said about teaching people about the gospel. We really have to understand it to be able to simplify it for others. I have seen that a lot in my mission. Makes me glad everyone taught me right. Its like teaching children sometimes here.

Love you so much,

 Alec

Picture of my typical breakfast before walking the hills.

A fews pictures of my new flat.

Transferred to Medellin

Hey Everyone,

So yep, I got transferred. I am now in MEDELLIN, the big city for my mission and where the mission home is. The weather is so great. It can get a little hot but not that bad. It really is the land of eternal spring in Colombia here. My New companion is Elder Benitez. What’s funny is he was my zone leader on the coast. He is really cool. He is from Mexico, but he speaks English. We hardly ever use English but its nice to know that he can help me out. He also loves video games, its super sweet. We talk about all the stuff thats going on with the consoles and games that are coming out from the news we hear from members. 

The bus trip was great, so much better than the throw up event on the way down. I took drugs to make sure I didn’t get sick, so that was a fun bonus. On the way to Medellin we watched an awesome movie on the bus name ´´My name is Khan´´. Its about a guy that is muslim who was living in the United States when the twin towers were hit. I believe it is based on a true story. It was awesome to watch. You should look it up on netflix.

I am loving the city. One of the best parts so far is I can now buy Dr. Pepper. It’s a long bus ride to get to the store that sells it but it is going to be so worth it and its in my area. I’m hoping I will be able to buy one today for p-day. I miss it so.

So I still have not received my packages and I have been informed that I can not go to the office to get them even though it is in my area now so i will have to wait till March to get them :´( its just so sad. My birthday presents and Valentines packages are still being held against their will.

Since I have been approaching my year mark I have been thinking about if I want you to make plans for a trip to pick me up or not. So far that would be a no. There is not much here that would be worth doing. A trip to some awesome beach or cruise with good food and relaxing would be a lot better. You guys would also no like not being able to talk with people. Its not like Europe where a lot of people speak English. I would have to translate every thing for you guys. So no, I don’t think a Colombia trip is what I want.

Nice pics of the scooter work Dad. If you are not going to paint the rally like that cool racing design you have then I think you should buy me one when I get back and I will chose that design for myself. So I’m now calling dips, so you cant do that now. :P You bought Braden one so you know I need one all to myself. Fun side note, now that I am in Medellin I’m seeing a lot of Vespas in the street. Well not a lot but a enough for me to notice. They are newer Vespas then the ones you have but still old. They have a round speedos and a raised ´´nose´´ down the front. Maybe you know what year there are.

Love you all,

Alec

Saying goodbye to the Gomez family (left to right: Geronimo, Xemena, Tanya, Jorge) 

These guys we awesome I’m going to miss them. This was the family that washed our clothes each week.

All packed and ready for Medellin.

We stopped for lunch so i thought i should take the Meyers artistic photo.

One of my Zone leaders got transferred and took a nap in the bus. Had to snap a picture.

The view from new apartment in Robledo, Medellin.

Machete Gift

Hello my Amigos,

Well bad news. I forgot my camera in the house so, I can’t up load any pictures. I’m so sorry. They will be up next week, I promise. 

We have been teaching a lot lately and we have a few baptisms coming up but they are not firm dates yet. We are hoping that they will be able to commit to a date soon. We have the family that we are teaching in the coffee farm, they need to get married before their family can be baptized. In Colombia it is super expensive to get married because of some fee to get the license so a lot of people never do it officially but consider themselves married. They are just to poor. We also have another guy named Juan Bedoya, he wants to be baptized but is always out of town working. He works for Amway so he has to travel a lot. Here is to hoping that they will all make it.

Its been great teaching with my comp, Elder Price. He is awesome. We get along so well together. Our favorite things to do are just goofing off when we are in the house. All sorts of shenanigans go down when we have free time at night (the fruit ninja was just a small glimpse of the fun things we do). He is a really a great guy, I know I’m going to miss him if I get transferred. 

Which leads we to my next point. I’M GOING TO MEDELLIN. Its not super official. We have not heard anything from the zone leaders yet, but Elder Gomez emailed me and said that I’m coming to the district that he was in, and that he is going to be zone leader in Villamaria (my zone right now). I will have to wait and see if he is not just pulling my leg. Next week will be the official transfers so we will have to wait and see. It would be cool to be by the mission home and a big city. It would also mean a bus ride through that curvy road again. 

Well some thing fun. A sister in our district is ending her mission this week, so me and Elder Price bought her her own machete with a leather sheath, then burned her name in to the sheath. Well technically its not her name, but the nickname we gave her. The name is Nefa (Nephi in spanish is Nefi and she is a girl so Nefa, and since she was always working so hard we decided to call her the female Nephi). Awesome going a way gift right. Every girl needs a machete and Elder Price and I really like ours.

Thanks for all the letters and pictures everyone sends me from home. I really like them. I promise I am going to try better to always write and send pics. I know its important. Its really funny, every time I get a lot of photos from Dad it puts them below so I have to read the description then scroll down, look at the photo, then repeat for the other. Its fun. Sometimes I end up looking at the wrong photo and have no idea what you are talking about until I find the right one.

So, in Braden’s letter he told me that you are thinking about just getting a new Forester for me and letting Lydia take the old one to college. You have my full support. Especially if you get the one Braden is looking at or one like that. Please and thank you.

Love,

Alec

An Unwelcome 20th Birthday Present

Hola Everyone,

First off, sorry for not writhing last week. I was in the middle of writing the president my weekly letter when we got a call that there was an emergency meeting that we all had to go to in Manizales. It was pretty poopy. The meeting wasn’t even important. I don’t know why we could not have done it at night. By the time we got back the internet cafe was closed so I did not get to write. I’m super sorry.

Anyways, my birthday was good and bad. First, Elder Price forgot it was my birthday so he planned exchanges that day so I spent the day in Manizales. It ended up being nice. I got to hang out with Elder Krisentsen all day which was cool. We played soccer with the youth that night, so that was pretty fun too. I got to use my new jersey I bought for Once Caldas (which I haven’t taken a photo of, I will get on that). After we got back to the house we got a phone call from the President´s wife. I had now idea what was going on. The zone leaders said she called when we got back to their house too. I started freaking out a little but it turns out she calls all the missionaries for their birthdays, so it was really nice. The zone leaders also bought me a cake to share with the four missionaries in Villa Maria. It was really nice of them to buy it and use their money but it was pretty nasty. The next p-day I made my own. It was a flour-less chocolate cake. It was so good. I shared it with the family that fed us that day and we ate half of it. The thought it was amazing. The rest I took home and made cake pops by adding cream cheese and a little sugar. They were so good. Elder Price dose not like dark chocolate so I ate them all by myself. No package with all my presents yet. I’m sure its just sitting in the office.

I didn’t get a chance to use my birthday money for food, which was nice because of what happened the next day. You can read the details below. I used it to buy a machete and leather cases for my english scriptures instead. They are really simple, not like the ones I have for Spanish. I think it was a better use of the money.

The day after my birthday I did get the worst birthday gift ever. At 6:20 in the morning I didn’t feel good so I went to the bathroom and that is where I stayed for 9 hours. I had a bucket in my lap and the bellagio coming out the back. It was the worst experience ever, and it was they day after my birthday. It was like welcome to your 20s, I hope you enjoy your time. Horrible! But I feel a lot better. It was only like a 24 hour thing (thank goodness) but hey I think I lost like 3 lbs after I evacuated my colon and most of my lower intestines. Not sure what I ate at the zone leaders the day before or in the cake they gave me but it was nasty.

As far as teaching goes, I think we nave had found our first chosen family. We were fasting and praying for a family that we could bring to the gospel and we found them. On Tuesday of this week I painted the bike of their youngest. They said they were going to paint when we taught them on Saturday. I told them that I could do it for them, I said that I helped my dad restore scooters and one of the things I learned was how to make the paint look awesome. They were thrilled that I was willing to do that for them. I made 3 or 4 sketches of what I was thinking would look cool. Then he picked one of them and I got to work. It took about 30-45 minutes of prep to get the bike ready for paint. I had to lay the tape down for the design and to protect the moving parts that couldn’t be painted. They didn’t understand why I took so long to prep everything. I told them that it would all be worth it in the end. It was so awesome to be able to paint again. After it was all said and done they understood why I took so long to prep everything because it looked amazing. The whole family was super happy. Service is great.

Thanks for the pictures of the new headboard you made. Wow, it looks awesome. It’s so much better then what you could have bought and a lot cooler. Now I just need to print off that picture of Fargo you sent me. I want to show the people of Colombia his wide eyed picture. They don’t know about pomeranians down here. and some kids ask if I have a dog.

Also my head and ear are fine from getting the rock thrown at me. The damage was only temporary. I still have full hearing in both of my ears. Nothing to worry about.

Again, I am really sorry that I was unable to write last week. I will do better from now on.

Love you guys lots,

Alec

Since we had our new machetes, we decided to play fruit ninja. 

I’m serving in Colombia, if I didn’t buy a machete it would be a bad move on my part.

After we taught a family the plan of salvation, one of the boys recreated 

the little drawings I had and showed them to me the next time we came by. Pretty cool! 

1st pic is in progress. It was so fun and the family was so happy. 

Just look at those lines. Mission Accomplished.