Still Pushing On

Hey Everyone,

So the results on in on transfers and unfortunately its what I hoped would not happen. I am stuck with my companion for another 6 weeks. That means it will continue to be super hard for awhile longer. He is just a tourist with a name badge at this point. Its going to be a rough 6 weeks. He hardly ever pays for things anymore either. I’m having to pay for a lot of the expenses. I had to pay his part of the laundry this week since he ``forgot where he put his money´´ then in the next moment he is buying food at the store. He is saving up for his laptop that he wants. I’m not going to let him buy it, when he is with me, although the last week of his mission he will be out of the house with a different comp so he still will have time to steal from the church and buy his laptop. I’m just going to have to drag him around until he perks up or ends the mission. Just not fun times for me. All the missionaries say that you pass though a ``gethsemane´´ in the mission (time of suffering). I guess this is mine. I’m just embracing the suck. As I’m writing you he is once again watching soap operas online and not writing his family and YES, my president still knows whats happening. Its hard to pull all the weight alone. I don’t see any reason to not tell you guys whats really going on. I still like my mission but its just very difficult right now.

Good stuff is that I helped out an investigator take one of the final steps toward baptism. Brother Correa came with us to one of the lessons and has helped a lot too. I think with a little more help from him the decision to be baptized this month will be set. I am excited to see this new person progress. I have also been working with members to get referrals from friends and family. It has been a slow process but its starting to show fruit. We are hoping to get these members more motivated to help people they know.

The English classes are still going on and I am still helping with them. Its funny, I have learned quite a bit about Spanish from the classes from the questions the students ask. I have also noticed that I have forgot a lot of the basics of English, well I mean I can’t remember them right away. I have to really think about it to give them an answer of why the grammar works like it does. I’m going to come back and not be able to speak English maybe. 

The ward continues to be good even if sometimes slow to help. We don’t have any loud kids during church so thats nice. There are babies that are loud but thats not their fault if they are loud. Although there are two kids that always yell ``Amigo´´ when they see the missionaries. They also hang on my arms and sit on my shoes. They are fun kids. Whats nice is that they are very reverent during church.

Well some thing interesting that happened this week. I learned that the bishop denied an older sister in the ward (70s) a temple recommend because she listens to ``devil music´´. She listens to bands like ACDC, Aerosmith, Nirvana, etc. The bishop here thinks that all of that music is of the devil so he wont let her go to the temple. Lame right? The biggest problem he has is that she still goes to the concerts when the bands come to Bogota. I’m not sure if I should share with him the “I’m A Mormon” videos of Brandon Flowers, Jeff Decker and Jeremy Jones or not. I think it might help him but maybe not.

So this week I also made up copies of this reference guide to the scriptures. It was 88 pages each and I made five copies. It cost about 50,000-60,000 pesos or like $25-30 super cheep for the states but here its more expensive especially for a poor missionary. Although I'm super happy with how it turned out. This booklet was originally given out by the church but it was discontinued a while back. It super awesome so I wanted a copy.

Oh and funny, my Mom sent me some pictures of my cousin Helene on her mission in Texas standing at the side of the road with a big group of missionaries. They all have signs that say “Honk if you love Jesus” and “Free Lemonade” so they interact with people. This looks pretty awesome to me. I will have to try it although I might have to change it to free aguapanela. Its a drink made from sugar cane that every body just inhales here. In fact it tastes pretty good especially with milk. I’m going to bring some home so you guys can try it.

Have an action packed week.

Toodles

Alec

P.S. My leg has been twitching this whole time.

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