April 27, 2015 Hello!

April 27, 2015

Hello!

Sorry I haven't written much the past few weeks, but everything is going super well here in Soachington!

So to start out, last P-day was super cool because we got to play soccer, but on a grass field! It was the first time in my mission, and although it wasn't full size, it was pretty sweet and I got to run a ton haha.

We did an intercambio with La Mesa last week, and this time I went over there with Elder Pa. He is a missionary with about 10 months, and is doing super well. He speaks Spanish very clearly, and has worked a lot to help out the area, which hasn't baptized since J and A when I was last there. So, in the day I got to meet some new people, and to see a ton of old members, converts, less-actives, and investigators! It is always a really weird experience when I go back to La Mesa, but I was grateful for the time to get to know Elder P better.

On Sunday, the sacrament meeting was super good, and one of the speakers talked about the Ensign talk Fireflies, I loved the application to our perspective on the trials and temptations on hand and the eternal blessings and rewards that seem so far away. If you haven't read the talk, I invite you to do it!

I am super proud of C P, one of the members that we reactivated a couple months back. He is completely firm in the church again, stronger than most of the other members, and he was just called as the Elders' Quorum President this past Sunday. And, a few weeks back, his nephew, F, came to live with him. F's mom is a member that lives in a pueblito super far away from any church building, and has lived there for a long time, so she has pretty much forgotten about the church. However, we have been teaching F, and he is planning on getting baptized this Saturday! It has been a privilege to work with him, and I know that it was a blessing from the work that we did to find, teach, and help C.

C and V are doing well, but they still haven't been able to get married; C's boss won't let him yet because they have been too busy. I don't think that I will be able to be here to see their baptism, but I am still proud of all of the progress they have made; they have great desires to do good and to help others to know the gospel as well.

Today we made Tacos for P-Day! And they turned out pretty well! haha We were going to go to Downtown Bogotá to buy some things, but as we were on the way, the assistants called and said that we couldn't go because there was a big public protest... so we had to come back haha. But if we wouldn't have come back, we would have never made tacos! So everything worked out well.

The mission has really helped me to understand why we do the things that we do. I loved the talk from General Conference by Elder Andersen about The Music of the Gospel. (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-music-of-the-gospel?lang=eng) I know that, for a long time, I did the "dance" without hearing too much the "music." Now I understand why we need to live the Gospel. I have a deep love for my Savior, and I know that through Him we can accomplish anything that we need to accomplish in this life. I wish you all a great week!

Elder Toombs