Loving My New Area

Hey everyone,

So I made it to my new area with only a few problems. The bus rides were fine for the most part. It took two days to get here and I had to stay over night in Medellin in a house they have just for missionaries passing through to other areas. Yeah, our mission is that big. We had a pretty big group going out on the bus from Medellin to the Cafetera but just me and my comp from Cerete to Medellin. Nothing much happened on the 1st leg of my trip but the second half from Medellin to Chinchina was not good. Its super windy in the mountain passes and as you know I get motion sick some times. This time was no exception. I thought I was doing fine until a super windy part of the road came. I could feel my stomach getting worse and knew I was going to throw up. I ran to the back of the bus to get to the bathroom and pulled on the door but nothing happened. Another Elder was sitting in the back and he had his chair reclined and it was leaning on the door. He realized by the look on my face what was happening but by the time that he moved the chair it was to late. I spewed all over the back of the bus. They had to pull over and wash it out at a rest stop so that was fun for everyone.

The ride here may not have been good but my new area is super awesome. Its a lot cooler then my last area. I am now in the Cafetera and no longer in the coast. The Cafetera is where all the coffee in Colombia is grown. Its super pretty and green everywhere. We are living just one street away from the center of the city where there is a big park and a huge Catholic church. We are about 2 mins away from our church which is awesome too. My new comp is Elder Mansillia. He is super chill and has been out a little over a year and seems to know what works as far as contacting people here.

My new apartment is pretty small, it just Elder Mansillia and I in the apartment. Its a lot less chaotic in the house and really peaceful in the mornings and nights without 4 of us squished in. I really love it. We have 1 1/2 bathrooms here so I have moved all my stuff in the second one so after I shower in the other with hot water I can shave and what not easier. The members I have met have been great and friendly. Also the accent here is totally different, I can understand every one so much better.

Sorry my letter is not long but we have a meeting with a missionary couple and I’m excited to meet them. It is with Elder and Sister Peterson. He worked at NASA on all the Apollo programs to send people to the moon so I had to take a picture with an American hero. How cool is that!

Love you guys lots,

Alec

P.S. I don't think they exist but could you look for a pocket sized triple in Spanish for me, I’m trying to make all the stuff I have to haul around lighter.

This is the view from our 3rd story apartment.

Elder Mansilla took a picture of me preparing for the gospel principles class.

 (The hat was from his old comp, so i was wearing it)

My Companion, Elder Mansilla, bought this pizza as a house warming gift it was awesome.

I have a real closet this time.

This is our kitchen, the only problem is that a power surge blew through the 

apartment awhile back and none of it works.

This is Elder Peterson and my new comp. It was so cool to talk to him about NASA.

General Conference & My New Transfer

Hey Everyone,

So Conference this week was awesome! Normally we would just watch it in the church with the members, but since it is in spanish, Elder Cutler and I were going to watch it in the church office, but they stole the computer from the office to use for the main room. We had a member bring a laptop so that we could watch it in english in the office but the internet was so bad in the church having two streams open sucking the bandwidth neither of us could watch it so we had to stop even before we really got started on Saturday. Right after that I called an English Prof in the ward and asked if Elder Cutler and I could watch it in his house. (He is the one that brought the laptop of us). He was totally chill with us using the computer in his house. So we solved the problem of having to watch in spanish and not understand fully. As for lunch, when we in the house of the Brother, he gave us snacks on Saturday, then lunch of fried tilapia, steamed yuca, and a glass of aguapanelal. It was so awesome. We thanked him so much for giving us food. He told us that it was no problem and it was a blessing to have the elders in his house.

My favorites talks from conference were Elder Terence M. Vinson of the Sunday afternoon session and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the priesthood session. I took the most notes from Uchtdorf´s talk, but Vinson´s was really awesome. His message about how God could take care of all of our problems as soon as they came into our lives, but we wouldn't learn anything that way. He gives us opportunities and trials to go through to make us strong, and if we need his help, he is there for us no matter what. Its like the poem about foot steps in the sand. Jesus is walking with us all our lives but sometimes when times get so impossible and we have done all that we can, he carries us because he loves us. (His accent was also awesome)

Exciting stuff!!! We meet with a new man this week. It was after the Sunday afternoon session. We were looking for a house and were super lost. We asked him if he knew them, He did not : (  Then he asked who were and what I (being a gringo) was doing so far was home. We explained that we were missionaries and that we had a message about the restored gospel of god. Amazingly he said ´´That sounds really nice, would you like to come in and teach me and my wife?``. We were blown away. No one does that here. It was so cool. 

We also had a different member family come to the church on Saturday for the afternoon session of conference which was awesome. We had been working on them for quite a bit of time, then to have them come to the church was the bee´s knees. 

We don't really cold knock here in Cerete. Everyone is usually outside of their houses just chill-laxin in chairs so we can talk to who ever we want. They normally don’t go any where. The people here in the coast are lazy not just physically but mentally as well. The see change as something hard. Salvation is not a luxury. If they would just soften their hearts, they could have the blessings of heaven poured out on them.

Other exciting news. I’M GETTING TRANSFERRED!!! I’m finally leaving Cerete after more than 6 months and leaving for Manizales. It is at the complete other end of the my mission and I will be trading the heat of the coast for the cool breezes and mountains of coffee country. I am super stoked. I am going to miss the people here in Cerete, but I am finally going to leave. I leave tomorrow at 8 am in the morning to start my adventure of the bus ride of eternity, I am going to have two bus rides that are more then 8 hours long each to get to my new area. Elder Gomez is going to be a trainer again. So that should be fun for him. Elder Cisneros is going to become an office Elder. Elder Cutler is getting Elder Roberts as a companion (yep the same one from the MTC). Which is going to be awesome for him, and also for Cerete. He is an amazing Elder.

Love you guys so much,

Alec

Watching Conference

Going To A New Area

7-8 Miles Per Day

Hey Everyone, 

Life is still good here in Cerete. We are walking a bit less now that we can use motto taxis. We use them for when the area is far away, or are short on time. However, we still do walk around 7-8 miles a day because we normally use the mottos to get to an area, but walk back to save money. As for my shoes they are doing awesome. They are really broken in and super comfy now that I have been wearing them for 6 months. They hardly show signs of being out on a mission at all. Really awesome. I think they just might last my whole mission. (lets hope i didn’t just jinx that).

Speaking of walking, as we were walking back from an area yesterday that was far away, we came a different way home and we passed a huge house on the main road back in to town. Low and behold what do they have in a pen near there house? Ostriches. Yes ostriches, two of them to be exact, just chillin’. I can’t imagine what they were thinking when they bought them, well other then ``I want to buy an ostrich, wait thats crazy lets buy two”.

The members are still treating us well. My favorite members would have to be one of two families. One of them is Yuly (Julie) and her mom Julia. They give us lunch every Saturday and it is always super good. Then we chat with them for a bit, great family. The other family is the Camachos. The dad is an english teacher and is pretty cool. The wife is a masseuse and likes to give the elders neck massages, and they are awesome. That family also helps the other missionaries a lot so that is awesome as well.

So hearing that my dog, Fargo, still snuggles on my bed when I’m not there makes me kinda sad : ( I miss my time at night with him, well at least when he was snuggling, and not attacking my hands or trying to stick his tongue in my mouth. Will you have Lydia scratch him for me. Also you should send me a photo of Fargo, because a lot of the kids are asking if I have a dog, and they don’t know what a pomeranian is.

Dad wrote me and sent me pictures of the Abarth. Okay, wow okay, just wow. It looks great and is just super awesome. I think the black looks better then the grey he had before. Now he does not drive a sleeper car anymore. I totally want to drive it when I get home. It is so cool that there are awesome sweet, fun and fast cars he can have while still being able to budget for all of us serving missions. I’m really grateful that we have the money for me to be able to serve. I love my mission.

Love you guys lots, 

Alec

P.S. Since my LDS mail was not working last week I have lots of letters to go through and don’t have time to upload pictures. Next week I promise.

Mission Conference - No Time To Write

Hey Everyone.

So my LDS mail account is not working this week so I did not get anyones letters or questions. I’m using my MAC account at the moment. I also do not have long to write because I am in Montaria at a conference with our President. It should be really fun. I always enjoy when he speaks to us. He always knows exactly how he can help us. He also keeps it simple. Do this this and this and you will have more success. I really like it!

I saw Dad’s Heinkel pictures on flickr when I was uploading my pictures for the week. They look awesome. His looked better than all the other Heinkels that showed up to Heinkel Fest. 

Also this week, the house across the street from us has been playing 80’s hits really loud so that is just plain awesome. Just to name a few bands, Journey, The Police, The Cranberries, Aerosmith, and much more.

Love you guys so much, sorry I just cant right any more right now.

Love 

Alec

Welcome to the world of Colombian Dinning

Meet the new guy, Elder Cutler

(kind of looks like me with those shades on huh)

The sisters made this for an activity we had with our investigators.
We put the schedule on the back.

Spoiled with Mail!!!

Hey Guys,

So let me start off by saying I am tired of everyone complaining about how hot it is back home or how rainy. We have rain here all the time. If it rains we are walking though lakes all day, its really annoying. The water is just to much for the system they have here in Cerete. As to the temperature, I have to deal with temperatures of 100+ almost every day. You guys just suck, You know that. You better enjoy that weather while you can cause I’m going to start praying for early snow for you guys.

This week I got the 3 packages, super awesomeness!  I got the one you mailed through Dear Elder, another one from you guys and one from the Hansen’s. So cool of them to send me a package! Can you thank them on Sunday for me please and I will also try to email them. It was awesome to get so many packages at once although I think that the other people in the house were a little sad. However after I started sharing the goodies with them. They were a lot more happy.

The teaching English has been going really well with my comp, Elder Gomez. He is a fast learner. He can have real conversations in English with people, its pretty cool. Its only Elder Gomez in the house now that doesn’t know english perfectly, so he is getting a lot of help from the other guys.

Sunday we had a family come to church that a recent convert invited. What was cool is they drove their car! No one here really comes to church with a car. It was awesome. They also seemed to really like church. But the best part is that he has the best mustache ever. It just so bushy and thick.

So its been 2 weeks now that we have been able to ride the motorcycle taxis now and they have not been that scary. Normally the people are not crazy mad men bent on driving the razors edge of life and death. Most of the time its a guy who has a wife and a kid at home and he is just trying to bring home money for his family.

Things are going good. We are doing well teaching and tracting and the spirit can be pretty strong sometimes. I really like being on my mission. I know the church is true!

Love you guys lots

Alec

Hey dad

P.S. So me (and elder Cutler) think Dad should go with the black rims for the cafe bike he is building. It looks more aggressive, and awesome.

Pouring Milk from the Bag.

Found a bat in the sink when we came home today

so we checked out the attic situation.

Card from my friend Nick!

Opening a letter my parents sent me in the MTC but didn’t get till now.

The office really needs really pick it up on the mail.

All my packages.

So, when I say we go to the store by our house, this is what I’m talking about.

You just ask for what you want and the people will pass it through the gate to you.

Testing Motorcycle Taxis

Hello Everyone,

Well this week for p-day we are going in search of a ´´leg bag´´. Elder Cutler (the new american elder)  had one when he came to our area. They are awesome. Its normally used for riding motorcycles in the desert but works awesome for missionaries. You can fit the Book of Mormon for the investigator, the pamphlets about different lessons, and a few other essentials. No need to carry around the big back pack all the time. I still plan to use the back pack when I need to haul big things but for the days like today it would be so much better to not be carrying the entire library of congress on your back.

We had our first motorcycle taxi ride Friday after them getting approved just last week. It was fairly uncomfortable. Elder Cisneros and I were on exchanges and it was late so we wanted to use a motorcycle taxi to get back to the house. The only problem was there was only one guy there to take us home. He ´´graciously´´ offered to take us both at the same time. We really had no choice since it was so late. Elder Cisneros and I climbed on. Him first then I got on after. Three dudes on a motorcycle isn’t very comfortable, physically or mentally. Three men should never be that close. When its just me and the driver I can space myself from him and sit on the very back of the seat but with the 3 of us we were creepily close. I try to use the stake dances rule from back home. If you can put a Book of Mormon between you, you are doing okay.

Some thing funny this week was that Elder Cutler and I got accused of being trunky by the other elders. We were just chatting after a lunch about all the wacky stores we had from before our missions. We were laughing so hard we were crying. The other elders, since they don’t understand english 100% of the time, thought we were crying about how we missed our homes and our families, and how we wanted to go back. The reality was we were just sharing ´´Bro Stories´´ from the past. Good times!

So good news. I was told by our Zone leader that I have 3 packages and 4 letters waiting for me. I don’t know what they are but my guess is that at least one or two of the packages are the leather cases for the scriptures I bought. As for the other package and the letters I have no idea. It’s all a part of the mystery and I’m really excited. It’s been almost 6 months I have only gotten 1 package.

I’m still craving Dr. Pepper. Its just the fact that it doesn't exist, that taunts me all the time. Its like hey we can swing buy the store and buy a drink. Wait, what was the point its not like ´´The nectar of the gods´´ is going to be there. Sad faces always :´(

The CX500 pictures Dad sent me are looking pretty snazzy. I told the new american elder that you were building a cafe racer, he freaked out, then when I told him it was using the CX500 as a base it blew his mind. He said that that is the exact thing he wants to do after his mission. He built old jeeps and broncos, and would rebuild motors just for fun. Its been great talking with some one that understands what I grew up with.

Love you guys lots,

Alec 

P.S. Sorry, no new pictures this week but I’ll try for next time.

Learning New Stuff

Hey Everyone,

So its the first of the month so we are off to get our hair cut. We usually get our hair cut the first pday of the month, so that would be today. There are 100’s of tiny little hair cutting places. You can be in the middle of nowhere and there will be a place to have your hair cut. Its about 5 thousand pesos to get your hair cut nicely in Colombia. They are not as talented as LeAnne but hey you can’t complain about every part of the mission.

As of this Transfers, 3 of the 4 people in the house know English now. We have all decided we need to teach Elder Gomez english.One of the new elders we got that knows English is Elder Cisneros. He is my first American and is from Arizona. He is super chill. I talked with him last night about the vintage jeeps that he restored before his mission. He also had pictures. I talked to him about all the time I spent with Dad before my mission in the shop watching and helping him restore scooters. He thought it was pretty awesome.

The best part of my week was I got to make brownies again but this time I got to use the electric oven in the church so they came out a lot better. I made them for some of our investigators in the church for a noche de hermanamento or night of fellowship. We invited the recently baptized Sister to help us out and we also had another sister help bake. She had an electric mixer and she let us use it which was awesome. We watched the movie The Testaments with them while we ate. It was one of the videos they had playing on temple square a few years ago. Its about a family living before the coming of christ in the americas. I always cry at the end when the Savior visits the people and heals them.

I found out this week that my companion doesn’t want to hear any of the things I have learned about the gospel from some of the awesome conference talks I have on my iPod. Just so everyone knows, I play them through my speaker and they are mission approved. All the cool things I am learning he wants nothing to do with. He told me that he just wants to know the bare minimum. I think its hard for him to remember the basic stuff sometimes so he is worried that having extra might be really confusing. He has asked me to not share any of that with him any more. What was funny is the day right after that an investigator asked about the 4 letter hebrew name for god in her bible, and what it meant. I was able to explain that it was translated as ´´I am´´, and then she asked if that was why that when Jesus said ´´before Abraham was I am´´. I was able to tell her yes and talk about it. It just goes to show that the more you know the more you can help people when they have questions but I understand it might be hard for my comp.

Also I am officially missing home with news that my Dad is making a cafe racer. I so want to ride it when I get home. Other then the Vintage scooters, that is my favorite type of bike. Cafe racers are the bees knees. In related news about motorcycles, as of last Monday in our Zone we can now use motto taxis now. Not sure how I feel about climbing on the back of some random Colombian guys bike. If he drives well, its pretty great we wont have to walk as far to the parts of area that are super far away. The downside is it might be a bit sketchy.

Thats all, 

Love you guys lots,

Alec

I don't know what happened.

 one moment he was normal, I turn around for like a minute 

and Elder Cisneros has a bag on his head.