My 4th Comp is Here - #3 Only Lasted a Week

Hola Everyone,

So I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was not quite what I had planned. Elder Muñoz and I had decided to use the money my Mom gave me for Thanksgiving to have a member cook dinner for us and them but my comp got a last minute transfer so everything changed at the last minute.

I’m super bummed, I only got to have him for a little more than a week. We were just starting to figure out how to use each others strengths to help the people we are teaching. We got a call in the middle of a lesson that he needed to pack for three days because he is leaving for Medellin. We were shocked. We quickly explained the situation to the woman we were teaching and then made a dash for the house (the next bus was leaving for Medellin in an hour. He made the bus barely and I went to the other part of our zone, Villamaria, to work in a trio while he was gone. This was on Tuesday, so Thursday comes along and I get a call that Elder Muñoz is coming back to our zone to be our zone leader, yeah! That was a big change and the mini transfer last minute. It was a bit crazy. He is now working within Villamaria, and I have a new companion in the same place I have been for the past little bit. His name is Elder Price and he is a farm boy from Idaho. He seems pretty cool. We should be able to work well together. I just miss Elder Muñoz he was super cool.

So with Thanksgiving all messed up and actually getting a new companion and going back to my regular area all on that day, I was never able to get back with the member who volunteered to cook for us. Instead I just bought two big pizzas for Elder Price and me. He was shocked that I bought food for Thanksgiving. He didn’t get to have thanksgiving dinner last year so that was cool we got to do something together on our first day as comps.

One good thing came out of the craziness. I got to listen to Elder North (one of the missionaries of the trio) and all of his experiences in the mission. He finishes his mission tomorrow so he has had a lot of things he could share with me. His conversion story was one of the most amazing I have ever heard. He is like a real life Alma the younger. He is awesome!

Saturday we had one of our baptisms. All went well except while I was in the font with him and asked for his full name he didn’t give it to me (people here have 4 names, two first and two last). He only gave me three of his names. We didn’t figure this out until Sunday morning in a meeting so we get to baptize him again this Saturday. Maybe its just he needed to be baptized twice to make sure he was really clean. He is 78 years old so that is a lifetime to clean so I will clean the second 39 years this Saturday. He is not upset at all to go back into the font.

Saturday was also zone conference. We also took the Zone Christmas card photo today. We combined with the zone of Manizales for the photo and spelled ``Feliz Navidad`` with our bodies in front of the third tallest cathedral in South America so that was pretty cool. In fact I am still at our conference so I am typing super fast today.

Love you guys lots, 

Alec

I don’t know who it is but someone here loves my Mom.

On saturday we baptized Jesus. He is 78 years old and is super awesome. 

It was great to watch his testimony grow. Oh and this is Elder Price, my new comp.

Thanks giving dinner in the mission. My companion Elder Price only wanted

 hawaiian so I bought my self a second pizza.

The new case for my Bible & Book of Mormon came. 

The member custom makes them in leather, sweet!

This week I got a huge haul of packages and letters from Home:

October Halloween Candy & Toy Package

November Peanut Butter and Crazy Sock Package

A Dear Elder Package from My Grandparents with Treats

& Finally the package Braden mailed from Africa on his mission in April. 

It went to the MTC in Bogota, sat there awhile and finally got sent on. Not sure what the metal thing is.

My 3rd Comp Is Here

Hola,

So the big news is that I have a new companion and NO, I did not have to ride the curvy road I threw up on before to go get him. I took Elder Mansilla to the bus stop and he boarded his first leg of his 2 day ride to Medellin were he will take a second bus to the coast. My new companion is Elder Muñoz and he came from an area close by so he just came on the bus too but his ride was pretty short. He is super chill. He was born and raised in Texas, but his dad is from Cali Colombia and his mom is from Argentina. He does not look look like a white boy at all but he is a gringo. It’s been fun having people guess where he is from. They think were are lying when we say he is from the U.S. He is an awesome guy and I know that it is going to be great having him here in Chinchina.

Well we had a super cool first week together.It has been raining a little bit but not bad. The only day we left our umbrellas at home though was the day we really needed them. We were contacting in a new area when all of a sudden it started pouring buckets on us. I saw a open door and ran to it and started contacting the house and when they saw it was just pouring rain they quickly ushered us into their home. After we had sat down they asked ´´So who are you guys, and why were out in the rain with out an umbrella or poncho?´´ They had no idea who we were or why we were there. They had never seen missionaries before but they still just let two people in need into their house. It was super great to see that type of kindness. We had a nice lesson and have plans to go back this week.

We also had an investigator come to church that had never come to church before. We bribed her friend, who she works with in the tienda, (yes same tienda as last week) with chocolate to bring her to church. It was great to have her there. I think she really liked it.

Also thanks for the money to buy food for thanksgiving. When I told my companion that my Mom had sent me money for both of us to pig out on Thanksgiving he was all for it. Last year his family only sent him a picture of all the food they ate. Not quite the same.

I hope you guys continue to have a great week and a great Thanksgiving.

Love Alec 

Last photo with Elder Mansilla.

We decided to play billiards for Elder Mansilla´s last day on our p-day.

Elder Muñoz is my new companion. Trust me he´s a gringo like me.

Teaching In A Tienda

Hey Guys,

So everyone has been asking me if we do anything for p-days in my new area since we did like nothing in our last one. We actually do. Normally we play football (soccer) with the young men and their non member friends in the mornings. After that the sisters and us buy food to cook in the house of a member that is a chief so its always super yummy and good. His wife is the lady that washes our clothes for us so they are kind of the ma and pa of us missionaries here in Chinchina. He actually asked if he could add my parents on Facebook. I told him he could but that they don’t know any spanish so it may not work out very well. :) Sometimes we go to Manizales for district/zone meetings then just hang out in the church there for a little talking with the other Zone. 

So I’m super excited for the holidays coming up. Christmas is supposed to be a really big deal here. I’ve seen them celebrate Halloween, Valentines Day (yep, its in September here), Colombian Independence Day and a bunch of other holidays that are not very important. They seem to have a holiday here almost ever two weeks if not sooner. All of them have been pretty tame, people playing instruments in the street, fireworks and the sort but apparently Christmas blows all other holidays out of the water. I have been told that the week before and after Christmas are full of parties, fireworks from almost every direction, people passed out on the side walk form to much beer, etc. I will have to wait and see if it is as crazy as they say. I’m planning on buying a small christmas tree for our house soon, something i can put on the counter in the kitchen or above the microwave. It should be fun. 

Maybe some of our apartment building will decorate too. Our building only has three doors on our floor so we have seen many of our neighbors. The lady right next to us shares an area that is a hole from the 4th floor to the first that has bars that we can hang clothes to dry, she is always dropping clothes on the the bars below, and since the is only access is from our apartment to retrieve the fallen clothes we are always passing her blouses to her. Interesting thing is that for safety missionary rules say that we cant contact or teach people in our building so we cant ever teach her or our other neighbors.

Funny thing happened this week on Tuesday. Elder Mansilla and I were teaching one of our in investigators in the tienda she worked in (its a little food place owned by a member so its totally chill). So while we were in the middle of the lesson the sister missionaries walked in to the tienda to buy a snack. When they saw that we were in a lesson in the tienda they were shocked. The looks on their faces were priceless when they discovered we were there. They had no idea who’s tienda it was or that our investigator worked there. They were just passing by and decided to buy something. It was pretty great.

Some sad news this week is that Elder Mansilla is being transferred tomorrow. His new area is in Montaria (yep close to were my old area was) so its kind of funny. I really going to miss him even though we barely got to be together. Here’s 4 reasons I liked him:

1. He has the same sense of humor as me so we always got along.

2. He was always helping me out in a nice way in improving my spanish.

3. He would always help me out to explain complicated things in spanish in the lessons

4. He bought me pizza more then once

Love you guys lots,

Alec

My comp, Elder Mansilla and the Elders Quorum President.

Baptisms Scheduled

Hola Amigos,

We have been doing lots of teaching lately and so have the sisters. We currently have 3 baptisms scheduled, and the sisters have 3 as well. There are two this week and, then on the 30th there are 2 and on the 5th there are 2 more so it should be pretty awesome. We are making progress.

As far as sending me money for a new backpack to replace my stolen one, I’m good right now. I don't really need to replace any thing. The stuff I cared about most was mostly sentimental value. I bought the ´´leg bag´ so I cant carry very much so I cant have any thing important on me and its working for now. My plan was to look for a nice leather messenger bag like the one I have at home when I need to carry things to district or zone meetings, or for transfers but I don't know where I am going to find one here. I will have to ask one of the members. I don't really need it right now, because its not really important but thanks. Also I cant believe that you still had the letters from trek that I had taken. That is so awesome! I was going to ask for those but didn't think that you would have them. Thank you so much.

Funny they had you talk about me in church Sunday. I guess its nice for everyone to get updates on us and maybe it will encourage others to go. I’m glad that every one had a laugh at my throw up story on the bus. It was terrible at the time but now its really funny.

As for any thing interesting this week. Well I went to the clinic this week since I had been sick for like 4 weeks so that was fun. Turns out I have seasonal allergies. Who knew right? He wrote me a prescription of drugs to take, then asked if I had a fear of needles. I said no so he sent me to get a shot to have the drugs active really quick. I walked in to the room and asked which arm do you need? The male nurse said that it wasn’t for my arm, it was for my tail so that was pretty fun. I am felling a lot better with the drugs he prescribed. So I should be fine.

Dad’s cafe racer is looking great. I love getting the pictures. Sadly my new comp doesn't know much about motorcycles or cars so I cant share what you did each week, its sad.

Not much else to say I guess.

Love you guys lots,

Alec

I got a hamburger delivered this week but it was way bigger than I thought it would be!

Church Activities

Hola,

Just so you all know, I love my new area. I think my new area is a lot better then my old one was. It’s more urban then my old area. I like walking and looking around and seeing buildings not just tiny little structures. Also when you get to the edge of the city to the north because its built in the mountains there is an amazing view, It has been rainy a lot here so there are clouds swirling around the mountain and down through the valley. The first time I saw that scene (and pretty much every time after as well)  I think of the Misty Mountains song from the Hobbit. 

It is really interesting here in Colombia with all the big catholic churches. A lot of the christ statues are bloody, since the people here combined the old ways of the ``Lamanites`` I mean Indians and what they knew about human sacrifice with what the Spanish ``taught`` them so they are a bit creepy to me. Its always a relief when I walk in to our church and there is the famous painting of Jesus in the red robe the first thing when you walk in. Its nice to have the restored gospel. I don't see why every one else doesn't think so.

The food isn’t very different here from my last area. We do eat a lot of lentils here. What is nice is that we have the same people for lunch every week (with a few days changing every other week between families) so they know that i don't eat mountains of food so they are giving me less. Im not getting much luck on not eating `salad of cucumber and tomato. I guess i will be forced to eat that for my whole mission.

The best part of the week was that our activity that we had planed for friday got canceled so Elder Mansilla, Sister Perez, Sister Cavero and I had to plan a new event. They wanted to do acts that were the typical lame church ones however I remembered the show “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” and all of the awesome acts they had on the show (yes i watched that show before my mission via youtube). So we took a few of the acts modified them slightly to make them be funny for colombians and it was awesome and I had a blast All the members said it was one of the best activities they had come to.

This week was really bad for teaching. There have been huge rain storms all week so nobody is in the mood to listen. It was really terrible : ( Although I think that the rain is going to let up (I hope) and we will be able to teach as we normally do. Although he here in Chinchina we visit a lot more less active members and I really like it. We are gathering all the lost sheep and it feels great. 

Oh and Dad, thanks for sending me my blessing. It will be nice to be able to have it for the rest of my mission. This time it will not leave the house. Whats funny is some of the members asked how I was going to get a copy of it here in Colombia. I told them I was just going to ask you for it. They asked won’t it take a long time for it to get here, I said no, my dad has it on his phone and can send it to me in a email. They were blown away that that you just had my blessing on your phone. 

Love you guys lots

Alec

P.S. I love Dad’s new orange puff coat.

Here is a picture of our bedroom/study area.

My mustache for my mission impossible skit at the church.

The ward gets together every Friday at the church, its so cool.

Getting To Know My New Area

Hey Everyone,

So I found out this week we cannot see some of the super cool historical sites in my new area. Most of the sights are Catholic and since we are missionaries we cannot go in. Super lame, but I understand why.

Also, sadly, no Dr Pepper is not going to be found in this city or in the neighboring one. I have heard legions of it existing in one store in Medellin but other then that I have no hope. I have also heard that if you are willing to p'ay a premium there are elders in Medellin that will send it to you but i don't want to pay what they want.

So in my new area we are actually tracting. We just did an area that had not had missionaries in years. We found a less active member of 20 years. She was baptized when she was little when her parents were baptized. She doesn't really know much about the church but she did agree to let us visit her this week so that was awesome. We also tracked another area and found two people that were super excited to her what we had to say.

We don’t have a ward here in ChinChina, its only a branch but we do have our own building so thats pretty sweet. (It also has a fooseball and a ping pong table, so that is awesome for activities.) We normally have about 80-100 people come each week to church so it fairly big for a branch.

Something fun this week was that we ate massive hotdogs for p-day. It was awesome. They were like a yard long and had guacamole and spices and a bunch of different sauce with cheese sprinkled on top.Oh and I finally have a microwave so i made carmel popcorn.

Thats all,

Alec

I bought the leg bag that I wanted in Cerete

Theses are the giant hot dogs we ate.

This is our group here in Chinchina, us and the sister missionaries. 

The Brother is always helping us out, he is super awesome.

I've Been Robbed

Hola,

So my new comp, Elder Mansilla, is from Chile. He is 20 almost 21 and has a little over a year in the mission. He is super cool guy. Him and I have the same sense of humor so we get along swimmingly. He is wanting to learn english so I am teaching him lessons in the morning. I think it is going well. He had lessons from another comp but he says that he wasn’t really good at teaching, so no pressure. I know the time I have with him is going to be awesome.

There are no plans for our kitchen to be fixed in the near future. It is the responsibility of the land lord to get it fixed but he hasn’t done any thing about it. We do have a portable electric stove that is set up around the corner in the washing area so we are not completely wanting and the fridge does work.

Super sad thing this week is that I had my back pack stolen with everything inside taken as well. We were in the church for an activity and I left it in the interview room since that is where we also have been leaving our stuff when we are in the church. The doors were left open so members could come in from the street. So sometime during the activity when everyone was in the cultural hall, some guy entered and stole my bag and left. Braden had his stuff stolen from his car, but this guy had the audacity to enter the church and take things. It was only my back back that was stolen but it had lots of stuff in it. I lost my bag, umbrella, my folder (with photos of the temple, family photos, genealogy, and family stories, the letters from trek, Braden's letter, my big plan of salvation drawing and my church videos), my mini hymn book, my super awesome mini mag-lite, but one of the saddest things is that they stole the pins that my dad gave me before my mission. I loved those pins. 

Later a ´´different´´ guy came the next night that ´´found/bought´´ a few of my things and sold them back to me at a premium. So i was able to recover my family photos, the church videos, mini hymn book, and the photos of the temple. I don't think I have any hope at recover my backpack, umbrella, flash light or any of the other things with value. As for the other papers i think they are in some trash some where : ( sad face.

Why do people have to be so mean.

I’m totally fine now. It was just a bit unsettling to have stuff stolen. I'm glad that it was stolen from the church and not while I was in the street at knife point. But its cool now I have a fun story to tell

oh, I forgot my camera so no pictures this week, sorry.

Love you guys lots,

Alec