Elder Nathan Toombs's Adventures!: December 23, 2013

December 23, 2013

Hola!!!!

So yeah... I am officially in the field now! Its super crazy!!! And I don't have a lot of time, so please excuse any errors! :)

So my Zona is Libertad, Tintal area! It is realllly different haha. There are zero homes, just a bunch of "conjuntos", pretty much a ton of apartments in their own little gated areas! And to get into any of the areas, you need to go through a security office and tell the sec. police what you are doing and who you are seeing. They always let us through haha.

The church here is so small, we only have una Rama! (branch). There are I think like 50ish members from Tintal.

My companion is Elder Garcia (in the pic), he is a really cool guy, and speaks PERFECT English! It is pretty great haha. I still try to speak Spanish when I can, but whenever I don't know how to say something, my comp is there. He is from Lima, Peru, and is an awesome trainer! The only prob is, he is sick, and has been since I met him Wednesday. He has a cough, and was feverish for a few days. He seems to be doing better now, but the other day, we had to go all the way to the mission offices to get him checked out by the doctor. It is more than an hour of bus riding! Bogota has a system called the Trans Mileno, it is a bus that goes faster than all the other traffic because there is a lane dedicated specifically to them. It was super crowded though. But then we got to eat subway in the city! That was flipping great haha.

So Spanish is WAY harder when not speaking with only teachers and gringos in the MTC. On my first day we had a lesson, and I understoood like nothing haha. Teaching is a little easier, because the investigators and families listen more than they talk, and most of the vocabulary that I have learned is in gospel language :) And in the past few days, I noticed I have been understanding significantly more (though not much haha)

So we have quite a few investigators, but in the past few days here, a lot of our lessons have fallen through. But the members here are a real help! And they like to feed us, another bonus :) We have one couple that is ready to be baptised, but they need their martimony papers first, and they are too expensive! I pray that they will be able to find a way soon; they are strong in the church and their testimonies, but I want them to progress and really fortalize themselves in the church before they start to dwindle!

The other day we went to this store called Éxito, pretty much the equivalent of a Walmart here. It is pretty different, but still carries a lot of the same things. They have Nutella here!!!!! Bad news though: it is like 13 mil pesos. Like flipping almost $8 dollars for a little jar! Luckily I still have a jar and a little more left thanks to Mom and Shelbi!!! Also, shampoo is pretty expensive. But we get enough money every two weeks to make it :)

So I came down here to Colombia with enough bug spray to fight an army, and I think I have received only one bug bite this entire time. It is pretty sweet haha. And the weather here in Tintal is pretty nice. It rains every day, but it hardly ever gets too hot during the day. Sweater weather pretty much all the time! I love it. Especially because we walk like a lot haha.

So today is my first P-day! So my casa is an apartment on the third floor in a building in one of those compounds, and we don't have a washing machine. Entonces, we call a guy to bring one to us! He rides a bike with a washing machine on the back to our complex, carries it up the stairs, and installs it for us haha. We paid 5 mil pesos for 3 hours! (Roughly $2.75). It is pretty cool haha. During that time we ordered dominoes and ate an extra large pizza! That was pretty sweet haha. Then after the laundry was done, my Comp and I took a bus over to Casa Blanca to play micro fútbol with some other elders in the zone! It is just soccer with a little ball on a basketball court haha, but it was pretty sweet!

Thanks everyone who has been giving me support out here, it really is appreciated! I miss you all, talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Toombs