5/12/14 Transfers!

May 12, 2014

Transfers!!!

Just kidding, still in Modelia.

The mission is going good, I officially have 6 months away from home now! It definitely doesn't feel like it though.

We don't have many investigators right now, but we have a ton of less actives in the ward, so we have been working a lot with them, and we are getting some progress! Three of them came to church for the second time yesterday, so we are close to leaving them and counting them as rescued. We are working hard to fulfill the promise of Elder Grow, one of the Area presidency, when he told us that if we want to baptize more, we need to rescue more!

However, we haven't given up on trying to bring more people to the gospel. I made cupcakes last week (manly, I know), partially to celebrate my 6 months, and partially to give to the neighbors to our apartment! They had surprised us the week before with some sandwiches, so we surprised them with cupcakes, a Liahona, our number, and an offer to do whatever service they need. Hopefully they will help us help them out!

So the past couple days have been exciting! On Saturday, we received a call that we had to go to the airport and pick up a future missionary later that day. Luckily, our plans for that time fell, so we didn't have to cancel anything. And I am very grateful for the missionary attire we use; it was easy to spot a young man with a white shirt, suit and tie! So we brought him back to Modelia, and went on some visits with him (Awesome because every lesson is with a man and member present!). He is a (future) missionary from the Florencia, (a zone where north Americans can't go because of the terrorist activity), and they don't have a stake president there, so he had to be set apart by president Lozano. So he stayed the night with us, and Sunday too. However, we found out at like 7 that he wasn't going to be set apart until 8:30, and that we had to go all the way to the mission house to do it! So we got there at 8:30, and the president asked if we were hungry (we hadn't eaten dinner), so he and Hermana Lozano fed us first, and Carlos went to get his last interview and get set apart in another room. Meanwhile, Elder Alcántara and I got to do our planning in the mission house (the which has an environment comparable to the temple haha), and we found out that after we had to go to the mission office, so we drove there, picked up a few things for the new elder, and finally headed home, getting there after 10:30. But it was a fun day!

It has also rained a lot this past week. Yesterday, we got stranded in a members house because it was pouring outside, and we didn't have umbrellas with us. But, I did get to skype my family then! That was super cool to be able to talk with my Mom, Dad, and a little with Aaron!

We slept a ton this p-day, because we had to wake up at 4:30 to get the new elder to the airport. Then, at about 1:30 today, we got a call from the zone leaders asking us to go back to the airport to pick up another missionary! So we went there again (we are close, only like 15 minutes away), and are now with Elder Vasquez, a zone leader from Florencia. We also went to play ping pong, and Elder Alcántara completely destroyed us both haha.

Well that has been my week. Talk to you next Monday!

Love,

Elder Toombs

Asunto 5/5/14

Hello!

So this past week hasn't been too eventful, and has been one of the harder ones, as we had almost all of our plans and backup plans fail. But that's ok, the work goes on!

A few days ago, we were sitting in a little empanada shop, waiting for our next appointment, when suddenly a young man comes up, shakes my hand, and says "Hello Elder." We had no idea who this guy was, and it turns out he has been less active for a loooong time, has desires to come back to church, has a non-member girlfriend who he wants to bring, AND they both work in call centers so they speak English! They both went to church yesterday, the girlfriend is really interested, and then last night, we had a great family home evening with them and the Bishop's family! It is great to know that sometimes, we are just put in the right place, at the right time.

Also last week, we were sitting in the house at like 10, I was hungry and about to prepare something when bam bam bam, somebody was knocking at the door. It was kinda weird, we normally never get people coming to the house (we aren't supposed to have visits there), but I opened it and our next-door neighbor was standing there and gave us sandwiches! They are a cool family that we talk to sometimes around the apartment complex, so we are planning on giving them some form of food and inviting them to hear us.

Today was a pretty cool P-day! So there is a pretty big mall here in Modelia, and I didn't know until today, but there is a bowling alley! I didn't know they existed here in Colombia! So a bunch of the missionaries from the zone went and we bowled for an hour. The environment in the bowling alley wasn't the best (I felt more like I was in a club than in a bowling alley; there is a bunch of loud music blasting, dark with lights going off everywhere, and it didn't help that there were music videos playing on giant tv's right above the pins haha), but it was a good time. Then, we went and ate in the KFC in the mall! That was pretty sweet. Then at the end, the zone leaders were coming with us to our house, and then out of nowhere, it started raining. So we hopped in a taxi and BAM it starts hailing! Just like bowling, I didn't know there was hail in Colombia! It was pretty cool to see.

I have a growing testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, and how much the atonement can help us in our lives. It is a great comfort to know that we can change our bad habits, or whatever thing we are doing wrong in our lives, and with the help of Jesus Christ, we can be completely cleaned of whatever errors we have committed. I am so grateful to be on my mission here in Bogotá, and even though it can be tough at times, it is worth it. Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Toombs

Hail!