October 27, 2014 Wintertime is Here!

Hi!

La Mesa has now entered into winter (there are only two seasons: summer and winter), and that means that it has been and will be raining a lot more here. Which is pretty cool, except for when we are soaked and freezing when we forget our umbrellas haha.

This week has gone well, even though we haven't seen too much progress with our investigators. One of the few that went to church on Sunday is an eternal investigator, E, that now swears that he is going to get married this December so he can get baptized. I hope I am here in December! Then, the S family went, which was super great! They haven't gone since before I got to La Mesa, so it is fantastic to be able to see a little bit of progress.

Today we went to Soacha to play soccer and volleyball, it was super cool! Except that I forgot to put on sunblock, and we were playing outside for 4 hours haha. So now I am a lobster, and it isn't too fun anymore haha.

I have run out of time! Have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Toombs

October 20, 2014 Crazy Guy and Crabs!

October 20, 2014

Crazy guy and crabs!

Hello! This week has been a little sad, but we are still doing well here. Sad, because last Sunday the mom of Hermano D died, and now J’s grandpa died. And, we had a few investigators that were progressing awesome that kinda lost interest. But we will keep working hard, because there are prepared people out there.

So last week after a lunch appointment, we were leaving when a tall guy with really long hair started shouting at us, saying in Spanish "Jehovah's witnesses" and "Kneel down here, right now!" and a bunch of crazy stuff like that, and he started approaching. The member took off on his motorcycle, and the guy kept yelling crazy stuff, and then he said something in English, so I waited and let him get up close. My companion thought he was going to punch me in the face, so he kinda backed off, but I started talking to him and when I told him we weren't Jehovah's witnesses, he backed off a little and commanded us to preach and spread the gospel, and to look up a cowboy on the internet (he spoke perfect English, he had lived in California and Texas). He said something about how we had to be careful because we were close to his mom's house, and then I shook his hand and we walked off. So a couple days later, we were walking nearby and I decided to knock on the door of where I thought his mom lived, and a guy answered and said he had no idea who the crazy guy was. Then I told him we were missionaries, and he said he had no interest in religion and closed the door. So we knocked on another door to see if it was the mom, and there was nobody, and I felt like we should knock on the first guy's door again. So we did, and his wife came to the door, and when we asked why her husband had told us that he doesn't want anything to do with religion, she started to cry and told us their child had died and said come back another day and shut the door. So we need to return to visit them, but it was a cool experience, how maybe God even works through crazy people in the road haha.

Yesterday, after church, we went to the house of a recently-converted family, Familia Re, with the D family to eat lunch! I helped to peel potatoes, and we made a giant pot of Ajiaco, this awesome soup here in Colombia, and we cooked it over a fire! I haven't touched a fire in a really long time haha. And they live super secluded in the forest, where there is just a fantastic view.

Today we went with John, one of our investigators, to an awesome waterfall! It was pretty cool, even though in the entire way there it was just dumping rain. And we saw a crab! I had no idea that there were crabs here in Colombia, well so far away from the coasts! When we got back I at a fruit salad and we slept haha, we had hiked a lot.

I know that this church is the only church in the world that has the fulness of the gospel, the priesthood, and a living Prophet here in the earth. Have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Toombs

October 13, 2013 2 More!

Hi!

So I am running out of time, and I forgot my camera, so this letter will be short and without pictures. ¡Discúlpenme!

So the highlights of the week: J and A got baptized! And confirmed! And I fixed the broken furniture in the house, and we cleaned it super good, so now the Spirit can be with us ;) And today we went to play micro with some kids from the ward, it was pretty fun.

I will send the pics next week! I know that I have been called of God to be here in La Mesa, Cundinamarca, Colombia, and that I was sent here because there are people here that I have helped and will help to grow closer to God and Jesus Christ. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Toombs

October 7, 2014 Conferencia General!

Hello! This has been a great week!

Last Monday, after writing you guys, we went to meet a new reference, I. She is a 50-something-year-old nurse that works in Familia D's house. We got to know her well, and she is super interested! The only problem being that she works 3 Sundays at least every month haha.

Then Tuesday, we didn't get as many lessons as we wanted because we had to go to Soacha to stay the night, and the last bus from La Mesa leaves at 7pm. We had to stay the night in Soacha because the following morning, bright and early, we had a Zone Conference with the President! So we stayed the night in the Zone leaders' house (and it was super cold!), and then in the morning took off to the meeting. It was a great conference, and we learned a lot about how to teach better!

And we didn't get back to La Mesa until like 8, but we still got a lesson with a new family of investigators! It was a family that had heard about our church, but wanted to meet the missionaries before drawing conclusions (finally!).

We visited A several times this past week too. He is doing great, and is really preparing himself! The only problem is that he can't seem to end a prayer "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." He always ends up saying in the name of Heavenly Father, or in the name of God, so we are trying to get that cleared up haha.

On Friday was J's birthday! We celebrated in Familia D's house, ate cake, and gave her a Bible to study (she only had a Book of Mormon haha). And Sunday was Familia D's anniversary! We went there early in the morning and made like 30 crepes with ham and cheese or banana and Nutella for everybody to eat, and had some more cake haha.

I loved General Conference this week! We were in charge of getting there early before every session to set up the chapel, and even though not a lot of people went, we had a great time. I had to watch in Spanish, but I understood everything well, so it is ok haha. And, A and J both went on Sunday! Normally, one of the members brings A to the church, but I guess there was a little confusion, because when we got there (early) he had already arrived; and had taken a bus and walked a bunch to be able to be on time! It was great, I was so happy to see his desire to see the prophet speak to us.

And Yesterday for P-day, all of the zone went to the Mission House to eat lunch with the President because we baptized more than any other zone! We ate lasagna and pasta, and it was great; however, we were also in buses for 7 hours and didn't get back in time to write to our families haha. But afterwards, we went to the D's house to watch The Testaments! We watched it with J and I too, and the spirit was just so strong. I love that movie!

Well that was my week! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here to serve the Lord, and for the testimony that I have been given that this is the truth. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Toombs

fotos: J's birthday, and Santi D riding on back of my awesome tricycle!