2/24/14 Free Pizza!

One of the highlights of my week: Yes, Dominos was more than 40 minutes late to deliver, so we got a free pizza!

So this week we had intercambios again, and I was able to go on splits with the new companion of Elder Johnson, Elder Grimaldi! And the cool part is, Elder Grimaldi is in his first transfer! Which means I had more time in the mission than him! I felt so old.

This week has been a little slow, like the past few. We had to give the lección franca to a few investigators, and we are really running low on lessons. We had one investigadora, Alba, getting ready for her baptism for last Saturday, but in our lesson on Thursday, she got a call from her sister saying that they were about to take her father off of life support. It was good to be with her during this time to testify and help her better understand the Plan of Salvation, but then the had to leave Bogota on Friday... and doesn´t get back until tomorrow. But she is doing well, and definately still wants to be baptized this Saturday!

We have also been working with her son, Johan, but we hit a little bump last week when we found out he smokes (He is 28). So yesterday we had a really good lesson with him about the word of wisdom, and he said he would like a blessing, so I gave my second blessing in spanish! Using "tu" instead of "usted" is way difficult for me, but it worked out well.

One more thing! We have a small mall near our house, and in the back there is a Juan Valdez Café (like Starbucks here in Colombia)... and they have oreo cheesecake! Yes, it is wonderful.

Well I don´t have much more to say. I know that this church is true, and that I am on a mission to spread the fulness of the true gospel of Jesus Christ! It is amazing to be able to see people using the Atonement in their lives, and I really appreaciate the opportunity to learn more of how I can use it in mine. 

Love,

Elder Toombs

2/17/14 Dios Mios!

Sorry for the title, but that is just something that I can´t get over yet here. All the people, members, bishops, and missionaries included, constantly say things to the effect of "Oh my God." But in Spanish, it is ok! I guess they only consider taking the Lord´s name in vain when they swear by His name. It is still weird to hear though.

In the past week, we have had a ton of rain! Pretty much every day. And just when we think it is over, look outside and there isn´t a cloud, in the afternoon it is dumping like crazy. It is raining right now! So my companion, Elder Giler, was robbed in his last area, La Victoria, and he lost all his stuff: Scriptures, bag, everything. Including his portable umbrella. But in our house, there just happens to be an umbrella! It is a ful-size, so my comp doesn´t really like to carry it around. So, because of this, every morning he says (in spanish) "Oh, it´s not going to rain today," he doesn´t bring his umbrella, and he gets soaked. So the first few times, when I offered to share mine, he didn´t want to (yeah it´s kinda weird for two guys to share the same one), but the last time, it was cold and he finally gave in until a member let him use his.

So every Tuesday night, la Rama Tintal (the branch Tintal) does an activity called "Sacerdocio en Acción," or Priesthood in Action. What it is is that the missionaries go on splits with members of the branch, and we go and visit less-active families. So the last Tuesday, I went over to the house of a less active named Claudia. She is one of the coolest people ever, and has a really strong testimony of the Church and that God is present in her li9fe. She just doen´t go to church! She has a young child that is dificult at times, but we are working with her to get her to come.

Our Rama is really progressing! The size isn´t increasing too much, but the leadership is really coming together. For the fisrt time in the time I have been here, they are organizing home teachers and visiting teachers, and we have a lot of plans for how the branch is going to help the missionary work!

Another cool thing: Ok I don´t remember if I already talked about it, but we are working on having an English Class! We just submitted an official proposition to see if we can teach in an apartment complex! It´s pretty cool, I hope we can!

This week was pretty hard. We had a lot of lessons just not happen, and a lot of investigators that were committed to go to church, just didn´t show up. It is pretty normal, but hard at the sametime. But we did have Two show! Alba and Johan, our best (and only) progressing investigators. We will see how far they go!

So after church on Sunday, we went to a recent convert´s house and had lunch, pretty normal, except for lunch I had my first whole fish! Yeah I know it isn´t that exciting, but I have never eaten a fish that still had the head attached, so it was something. And it was filled with so many spines that I think I burned more calories taking the fishb apart than I got from eating it. But it was pretty cool!

And today is P-Day! So I got to try out my new shoes, which are Definately worth more than $10! I probably jinxed myself, but we will see how long they last. I also made Patacones for the first time! (see photo) So what they are are pretty much smashed slices of platano (giant banana), fried in oil a couple times. They are pretty good!

So I have a challenge! So in my personal reading of the Book of Mormon every morning,m I have a study journal with me always. I look for things really cool, or how scriptures can apply to my life in that moment, and write them down! It is really helping me to understand, learn, and to feel the Spirit in my study. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and because of that, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and we have the fullness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ! I am super grateful to be able to be here in the mission, and I am looking forward to the rest of the experiences I will have here in Colombia!

Love,

Elder Toombs

Patacones

February 10, 2014 3 Months!!

Yep, I now have 3 months out in the mission! Crazy huh. 

So this week wasn't too bad, except we had to spend a little more time doing stuff for Elder G.'s doctor's appointments. On Wednesday, we went all the way to the mission offices again, got there a little early, and then the docter was 2 hours late! So we pretty much had to sit around for like 2.5 hours in the office. But at least one good thing came out of it: The missionary couple, Elder y Hermana C. (Gringos), had some Goldfish! My first Goldfish in Colombia! It was awesome.

What is less awesome is that wednesday night, I ended up getting a little sick, meaning I woke up to throw up 5 times during the night (I'm sure you all wanted to hear that ;) ) I got better pretty quick after that, but you can never trust the food here I guess!

So we also ended up helping some Investigators move out! Jairo and Joanna are really old investigators, they have testimonies, but just need ot get married. They are planning on getting married this month, just not in Tintal! Oh well, the move went well.

So on Sunday we were going to have a bunch of investigators come, and...only one showed. But it was great. Her name is Albe, she is the Grandmother of a convert and the Mom of another investigator, and when we talked to her after church, she said that she felt it was the answer to her prayers, and she feels our message is true! One progressing investigator!!!

Today was the first P-day when we didn't have something planned by the zone to do, so Elder G and I went to a sketchy part of town and I got some sweet futbol shoes for just $10! Score!

And I played in the rain a little yesterday haha. 

Love you all!

Elder Toombs

2/4/14 Emergency Transfers!

Hola!

So like the title says, Tintal had an emergency transfer last week! Only 3 days after the transfers happened! And it means that one of us left Tintal, to go somewhere else in Bogota Sur! And it was...... Not me! Yep, Elder Garcia left Tintal after 5.5 months here. That is a long time to be in an area, but its pretty normal here. Anyway, it was 10:20 Wednesday night (10:30 is our bedtime), and we got a call from the Zone Leader that Elder Garcia was leaving! So he was up pretty late packing, and then at 8 in the morning, the other companionship came to our house to trade! The area Elder Garcia went to is called La Victoria, and the reason why we didn´t meet them there is because....Gringos aren´t allowed in the area! It is the most dangerous area in the mission, Elder Garcia was really worried haha. And yeah, I got a new companion! His name is Elder Giler (Heal-air), and he is from Ecuador. He is pretty cool, and I think it will be a good change. And he speaks (decent) English! For like the first day and a half he only spoke Spanish, but then when I have having trouble remembering a word, he helped me, and I realized how much he knew. So I don´t know if it is good or bad, but I do like having someone that can help me with my Spanish.

Aaaaand the reason why my email is on Tuesday this week is because we had a special Multi-Zone Conference with a member of the Seventy, Elder C. Scott Grow! He was really cool, and because he is a gringo, his Spanish was much easier to understand (he speaks without an accent or slurring of words). So first, on Sunday we went to the stake center in Quiroga (the normal meeting place for multi zone conferences) with our Ward Council members to have a conference about how the ward members can help the missionaries more, and then yesterday just the missionaries returned and we had more lessons and stuff about our role in the mission, and what we can do to bring more people to Christ. It was really cool, Elder Grow definately deserves to be in the area seventy! He had such a strong testimony, and I really think that he helped this mission.

¿Qué más? Oh so today for p-day we had several zones meet at the same place to play fútbol! There are these turf, covered canchas (courts/fields) that are pretty cool to play on, but are kinda expensive, but with a bunch of missionaries we were all able to play for like two ours on three different courts! And remember, they really only play micro soccer here, on fields the size of basketball courts, with normally a max of 5 people in each team. And also, today I got my first bloody nose from an impact to my face! (The only other time was while scuba diving). What stinks is I was keeper, and they still scored the goal after smacking me in the face.

So we have been putting a big emphasis on reactivating less-active members and families here, and we are starting to see the fruits of our efforts! On Sunday we had a family come to church, and stay the whole time, who were really having trouble. And just saying, it is really hard to get people to church here. But yeah, it was great! It is cool to see someone resolve their doubts and problems with the church and return to the gospel. A gospel which I know is true! Especially with the conferences with Elder Grow, my testimony has been growing tremendously. I am so lucky to be able to be on a mission, sharing the message that I know is true! I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Toombs

Elder Garcia and Elder Giler

Elder Toombs and Elder Giler