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.