June 9, 2014 7 Months!

Yep! Time goes by fast doing the work of the Lord. Sorry I am writing a little late, but we didn't get home in time last night from a conference, so we are squeezing this into our schedule today.

So I got my new companion! Élder Flores is elder Mills' dad, has like 20 months in the mission, is a Mexican, and...speaks English! Not super well, but he does. I might have to ask for a companion who doesn't speak English next transfer so I will have to practice more haha. But he is a cool guy and a great missionary, and I look forward to the progress we will be making here in Modelia.

This week has had a few ups and downs. All in all, we had a little improvement in the numbers this week, having much higher than the average for the zone.

On Tuesday, Elder Lund and Elder Nielsen got up early to head over to the airport, then a few hours later, Elder Alcántara and I went over! He actually seemed really sad, he didn't cry or anything, but I could tell by his body language that he was triste (sad) to go. I will miss him, but it is exciting to see all these missionaries go have to confront the challenges of real life! So the missionaries from Fontibon came and picked me up from the airport, and we went to Quiroga to find my new companion.

That night we went to visit a less active and there were a few strangers there, so... we taught them! haha We just shared a short message, but they were interested and wanted to hear more, so we made plans to come back and visit. The only thing is, they are a couple from Cali (Colombia), and they went back on Friday night. But, we managed to teach them Wednesday and Friday. Friday night, I was feeling pretty tired (my companion likes to use a heater at night, and I couldn't sleep well because it was so hot), and when I am tired, my Spanish gets a lot less clear. But we shared a short message about the Atonement and how we need to live our lives to go back to the presence of God, and at the end, they just went out and said how much they felt the spirit, and how well my Spanish was! I know that the gift of tongues is real, and that the spirit can help us gringos to get across exactly what we need to.

On Thursday, we had a great day of lessons all planned out, and all of them fell but one. So it was like 8:30 and we were walking home, when I felt like buying something from a nearby store, and as we were leaving, someone walked in and said "Hola Élderes." I told my companion I didn't know her, so we waited outside and greeted her, finding out she is a new member in Modelia who didn't know where the church was, who also lives with a couple friends that are interested in the gospel, and who has a boyfriend who has even gone to church a couple times! It really helped me remember that as long as we are doing what we need to, God will bring us to the people that need us. Hopefully this will turn into something!

Sunday we got 57 people coming to church, the highest I have seen here in Modelia! (last week it was 44). Then Sunday night, we had the priesthood session of stake conference, and we pretty much covered all of the questions and doubts about every priesthood ordinance. It was pretty cool!

And yesterday, we had a strange p-day, because all of the missionaries in Bogotá North and South had to go to the MTC to see a seventy, Elder L. Whitney Clayton! It was a great time, and it was just what we needed here in the Kennedy Zone (the entire Zone is moving pretty slow). I also got to see Elder Porter, one of the 3 missionaries that came with me from the Provo MTC to the CCM in Bogotá! It was a good time. However, on the way back, we missed the stop to get off at on the bus and ended up having to switch over to another, and we didn't get back until like 8 at night (which is why I didn't write). But we got back safe and sound!

I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to be serving here in Modelia, even if the work is a little slower than most of the mission. I know that I am here for a purpose, and that if I do all the things that I need to, we will have success. I know that this church is the only one with the fulness of the gospel, with all of the ordinances that we need to achieve salvation. Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Toombs

Bogota Temple

Bogota Temple

Elder Alcantara at the airport

Nathan working hard!