Mission Christmas Party

Hi Everyone,

 So first of, I talked with Sister Pitarch in the office about my Christmas package. It should be in the office. I had to send a page with my signature and my finger print on it so they could reclaim it. She said that if it is there she will have it sent to the zone leaders so I can have it before christmas, don’t worry. Also I think that the best plan would be to not send me any more packages. I don’t think a January birthday package would make it in time. Just send money so I can buy fun stuff that I want to bring home and that would be good. I can’t believe I’m already talking about coming home. Everything is getting so weird thinking back that my last memories of Christmas are from the mission and that next year I will be home for the holidays. I’m just glad that I have one last Christmas in the mission to be able to bring the spirit of Christ to the lives of the people of Colombia.

So this week we had our mission Christmas party. It was with the president and his wife for all of the coast. It was super fun. He started off with the spiritual and then we had the hakas and a talent show. Our district made a mission version of the story of Mr Scrooge. I was Elder Scrooge being a mean nasty zone leader, then I changed for the better. I would send you the video but its all in Spanish and you guys would not be able to understand. We also did a gift exchange at dinner. I got a sweet hat, that looks like Indiana Jones´s but its made from palm leaves. The haka we did was also super sweet. We yelled Moses 1:39 in Tongan. It was super cool. The president´s face afterwards was shocked since normally everyone just yells in Spanish. It also could be that he was shocked that I yelled at the very end “who are we” super loud.

Hearing about Dad getting stuck in the snow trying to take a picture for the base of our Christmas card made me miss the cold. I cant believe he got stuck in the snow. That happened to me once in the forester. I took out the jack and lifted the front of the car and put compacted snow under the tires to get a little bit of traction. I also put the rubber mats behind the rear wheels. It was a fun time.

As to the Christmas card. It looks great. I love how you just pasted a photo of me inside. Speaking of which,I still have the photo from last year saved in my camera. Its great when every one asks what the heck I’m doing lying on the ground.

Oh and I asked Mom what she wanted for Christmas and only asked me to bring home a Colombian nativity set. There is lots of stuff I still want to get to bring back. Don’t worry about me not having enough space. I’m planing on getting rid of a lot of what I have in my bags right now, by giving it away or trashing it if its super worn out. All this mission clothes does not need to come home when people here can use it.

Well, hope you all have a great week.

Toodles,

Alec

Pictures from our snow adventure last week.

Sadly the trees were fake.

Also a link to video the snow people took of me:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alecmeyers/15407439164/in/photostream/

I volunteered to design our zones Christmas shirt this year.

My gift from our mission president. It's a notebook.

Christmas Season

Hola Amigos,

Well, the big snow party last week was awesome. Sadly my camera did not make it into my bag so I have no photos right now. However, I can explain it. They had basically a big storage container cooled down to 5°-15° F so they could have snow on the inside. They gave us all coats and gloves because it was super cold. I didn’t mind the cold at all. Other Elders and Sisters were dying because of cold. It was super funny. Sadly the snow was super compacted so I couldn’t make snow balls or even a snow angel. It was super awesome to show Elder Conti Snow. He had never seen it in his life so that was cool. It was one of the coolest activities so far.

This week we are also having another activity. It’s going to be our christmas party and dinner with the president this week. We are going to do another Haka this year. This time I took control and planed it out. We are going to be yelling/screaming Moses 1:39 In togan so it is going to be a real Haka and not a stupid Spanish version. It's going to be the best. I was also chosen to be the leader of the Haka since the said that I was the one yelling the loudest so that will be fun. I’ll be sure to take a video to show everyone. I’ll also be sure to take a photo of the big cut of meat I'm going to eat.

So as far as my release date goes I still don’t have it. Hopefully by next transfer. Everyone here seems to get it the last 2-3 months of their mission even though other missions seem to find out sooner. I guess it's so the Elders don't get all trunky. As soon as I know you will know.

Well, the best part of the week was being able to start giving out the He is the gift cards to people. We were with Elder Rucker this week helping out since his comp ended his mission and had no one to companion him. We went to a super posh neighborhood and we found a family that was willing to listen. I asked if they had a tablet and the daughter brought her tablet out. We were able to watch the video on the doorstep. It was so cool. They accepted a second visit for this week. Sadly, I will not be there since it’s not my area.

It’s been awesome getting the Christmas season going this month. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Love you all.

Toodles,

Alec

A Pizza Thanksgiving

Hey Everyone,

So this week was Thanksgiving and even though it's not a Colombian holiday I still had to celebrate. My parents were awesome and sent me some funds for my comp and me to celebrate. We ate dominos pizza with cheesy bread. It was super great and with the extra money I bought an awesome hat. We had lunch, dinner and breakfast then dinner again with all our pizza. It was awesome and a great use of my money I think.

Transfers were also this week and I’m staying here. No one in my district is leaving either. I think I might just die here. If so that will mean that half the mission was spent in the coast. I am excited to see my family that we taught get baptized but I was ready to see new places too. Oh, well.

Saturday this week might have been the best day. The zone leaders got back from Medellin (no Dr. pepper slackers) and shared with us the new “plan” of the mission. It’s a bunch of different things we have to do this month so we can stay busy. The main thing is He is the Gift which is a cool thing that the church is doing this year for christmas. They are even going to have an announcement in Times Square in New York for all of December. Its super sweet. All of you should check it out.

As far as my plans go for when I get back I still am not sure. I have been prompted that science is just not the thing for me so I’m unsure now. I for sure need to talk to my Aunt Teresa to help me with her test to see what I should do. She is a placement pro. I’m also not sure where I will be going to school, BYUI or the U. The U, got messed up and thinks I’m coming back in the summer. The lady that helped me with that when I left was really cranky so I’m not sure if that will be a problem or not cause I don’t want to start until fall. I will have plenty of time to get things settled once I’m home though so it's not on my mind much now. The only thing I do know is that I’m all in for a trip with my family in the summer. Thats a no brainer.

Well, today we are going to do something extra cool. We are going to play in the snow... I’m going to tell you how next week so you will just have to wait and tune in next time.

Love your faces, hope you have a great week.

Toodles,

Alec

My November Package Arrived!

Our Pizza Dinner of Champions for Thanksgiving.

We don’t have a microwave so we reheat in the frying pan.

The Powers Back On

Hola Amigos,

So I have really been loving my district lately. The people I work with are just awesome. I have 10 missionaries in my district, six elders and four sisters. What is funny is that my district has all the leaders of the zone, the Zone leaders and the leader of the sisters, and I so almost half of the missionaries are leaders. As for the size of my area I have included images. Everything in the image is my area. I don’t cover Cerete where I was before since it is a different district. Transfers are next week on the 2nd of December. I don’t know if I’m going to stay here or not. Not that I hate the coast but I just wanted to end in Medellin. If I end in the coast I’m going to die when I get home. A change from 100 degrees to 30 I think would send a huge shock to my system. I do want to be here for at least one more transfer if I can to see the Zuñiga family be baptized. They are just such a cool family and I just hope I get to see them become official.

So we had major celebrating here on Tuesday. We were finally able to fix the problem in our house that made half of it have no electricity. The family that comes to inspect the house helped us out with that. We now have full power and don’t have to sleep on the floor. WOOOOOOO! They also unclogged our sink so we can use that now as well, its awesome. We now have no more problems in the house.

So Thanksgiving is this week and I’m pretty excited. My parents sent some funds to me and I plan to celebrate Thanksgiving by just eating a huge amount or at least trying to. I’m thinking I will buy Elder Conti and big, huge pizzas and then slip into food comas. I thought that would a good idea. Maybe some soda and desserts too. It should be super fun. I will be sure to take lots of photos.

I’m sorry my car has been causing so many problems lately for you guys and Lydia. Subaru’s normally work nicely, but I guess that its just got so many miles that everything is failing at the same time. Be nice to her, I miss my car.

So lately I have really been enjoying listening to Michael Wilcox. He has a way to explain things like no other. I have used his talks to teach investigators. I have also used his talks as basis for my district meetings. I can only teach a small portion of what he shares but I love his stuff. I am able to take what he teaches and change it slightly for the needs of the district. I am super happy that I have those talks.

Well, I’m sorry once again that I have no photos again this week. I left my bag with my sport clothes and my camera in the church this week. The zone leaders were nice and picked it up for me but I had to wait until Saturday to pick it up so no photos :,( I really am trying to do better.

Thats all for this week my brave little toasters. Until next week.

Toodles,

Alec

My Area

Super Gringo Power

Hello My Amigos,

This week has been pretty productive. We are still teaching the Zuñiga family but we were able to find some new people this too. Tuesday, the AP’s came to the coast and they and one of my ZL’s spent the day with me. (Elder Conti was with the other ZL).It was pretty awesome. My comp went off to teach with the other ZL and I got to be with Elder Atwood from my original group. We were able to contact a bunch of people since we were three white kids together so we had super Gringo Power. We found a family that was excited to hear us. We went into an area  that we don’t normally work that was pretty far away. It turned out to be great since no one from any other church goes out there. It was awesome and they enjoyed the visit and learned from what we taught.

Thursday was not as good. We lost power in half of our house so we had to pull the mattress out from our bedroom into the main room so we could use our fans for the heat. We have slept on the floor for the past 4 nights now. We are hoping that the power comes back in the other half of the house soon. We are having to use candles in the bathroom at night so we can have some light. It still is not back on and is pretty much a problem we don’t know how to get fixed.

I still have not done organized any big trade off for my district but I did accompany some sisters on Friday with my Comp. I can’t do trade offs with the sisters but I can accompany them with my comp for 4 hours. They also made the best of our company and had us talk to a recent convert about going on a mission. I talked about all the blessings that he could bring to lives of others and shared the story of one of my ancestors, Thomas Roberts Higham, and how because of him our family five generations back came to know the gospel. I think he might go.

We are also having a big activity today for p-day since it is a holiday and nothing is open. We are coming to some sort of water sports that the sister are putting together. I will be sure to take photos to send to you guys next week. It should be fun. We have not done anything like that in awhile with all the reports I usually have to do so I’m pretty excited.

Well, I love you guys so much, here is wishing you all a great week.

Toodles,

Alec

P.S. With Thanksgiving coming up I just realized that I will not be able to get Dad the surprise I was hoping for since I got transferred. I was going to take my comp to the Hard Rock Cafe in Medellin to celebrate and get Dad a pin but that is now a no go. Sad day (  ._.)

Birthday Party after our District Meeting for Sister Canas

Action Shot of the Super Mega Dog I Had

We Have Had Tons Of Rain

I got my trunk letter (aka mission release questions) so I put 

on some civilian clothes and took a picture. I changed right after, it felt weird.

No release date yet though.

My Wedding Invite & Halloween Cards Finally Came

Not Much Happening

Hey Everyone,

My district is doing well this week and all is back to normal. No one had been sick or had problems. No one had to go to the doctor and yes, the president knows what has been going on. I chatted with him a little to let him know what was happening. He was really cool about it all. It was nice to not have any emergencies this week or have to take care of sickos not that I minded helping. Even my toes are doing good again. I missed my last doctor appointment because of my emergency transfer but I’m making sure that the nail is coming in nicely. They are not going to be a problem any more. I’m going to make sure that I don’t ever cut them wrong again.

Well, for p-days in my  area it has been over a month now and we still do not have a lot of time to do anything on our p-days. We basically wash our clothes and write. We don’t have that much time or money to be doing anything else. We have to take a bus every day to go to lunch since there are almost no members in our area so we never had any walking around money. I talked with the Zone leaders and the office and they are going to give us a little bit more money every 15 days so we don’t end up with nothing in the middle of the week. So that is going to be nice. Maybe we will finally get to do something fun after all our hard work.

Well, something funny that happened this week was Elder Conti and I were doing mad libs and it was great. We had done them before but this time they turned out super funny. I took a photo of the funniest one. It was the cherry on top of the night.

Sadly flickr is wack today so I can’t upload the pictures from the past few weeks. I even remembered my camera this time so I could and bupkis, nothing. I’m really sorry.

I’m sorry this weeks letter is short, not much happened.

Toddles,

Alec

Stones & Drugs

Hey Everyone,

So this week I had another medical intervention for a missionary. This time it was not my comp but another Elder in my district. It was Elder Gonzalez. He was dying of pain and when I talked to him I was pretty sure he was passing a kidney stone. Out here in the middle of no where they only take cash at hospitals like I’ve said before so I emailed my Dad for a short term loan and he was able to transfer me some funds within 10 minutes so I could take the Elder to the hospital. Sure enough, he was trying to pass a 4mm kidney stone. He was complaining the whole time and whining that he wanted to call his family and tell him that he wanted to go home. Not sure how going home would help, the stone would be gone long before then. I wanted to tell him to buck up and be a man, but that would have been rude. Instead I helped him understand that the pain would not last forever. I told him I saw my Dad do lots of them and as soon as it passes the pain would go away. He didn’t really listen to me but we did get some drugs in him and he felt better. We were at the hospital until about 5pm and then they sent us home. Problem was that around 10-11pm he started complaining about the pain again cause the drugs had worn off. I called the president and I chatted with him about what was happening. He told us to take him once again to the hospital. This time he got a big list of drugs to take for a while until it passed one of which was some syringes to give him a shot in the butt. Well, he asked for everything that could help him out so I guess he got what he asked for. He did pass the stone the next day we think but until then he thought he was dying. I’m glad I could help and glad it was not me.

The funny thing this week was after Elder Gonzalez got out of the hospital again we kept him at our house to make sure he passed it and was ok. He is very funny and kind of scared of everything. He acts like a super cool manly man but little things freak the crap out of him. He could never walk by the cemetery that was near our house, he always asked to walk another way. He also didn’t shower with the curtain closed, we found water all over the floor after he got out. We asked him why and he said that he doesn’t want the scene from Alfred Hitchcock´s psycho to happen to him. It was a super funny contradiction. 

We have been searching for new people to teach lately. I have gotten to meet our neighbors however they don’t seem very interested. Don’t get me wrong, they are great people, they just have seen the missionaries for a long time in the area and don’t really show interest. It is really sad but we have to find the chosen people.

D&C 121

34 Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?

 35 Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson

Oh and I got two packages this week, the September and October packages are in. Sadly I forgot my camera so I can’t up load photos : ( sorry about that.

I was glad to hear that Dad is making good use of Braden’s old room and has converted it into storage for clean scooters. Scooter storage is an awesome idea. I’m sure mom was just rolling her eyes the whole time thinking “Boys and their Toys”. I also found the pictures of Dad’s costume super creepy. The only way it could have been better is if you had used my morph suit, you know the full body black spandex body suit that I bought. It was a great costume though. Also I feel like the pumpkins this year you guys did are really laking, but then again I was the only one to do something super detailed. I looked in to buying a pumpkin to carve here but the price was crazy. I also thought watermelon, that too was pricey so I was left with nada.

Oh and I need some help please and don’t worry, it’s not money. I need the name and phone number of the stake president, and the phone number of Bishop Mike Ju. I’m filling out the page that they need to buy my airline ticket to come home so I need this info before they can buy it. Please and thank you.

Well, thats all for this week folks. Tune in text week for more up to date news stories about the average life of a Colombian missionary

Toddles, 

Alec