Buenas Tardes Familia,
Here in Sogamoso, It has been a pretty good week. I’ll start
from the beginning, or I guess last Monday. Last Monday I waited and got the
word that I wouldn’t be leaving until Wednesday and that the new companion of
Elder Villarroel, my son, my other companion, would arrive that day. I was just
wondering is we were going to be in a triple, or what. But no, they sent me
with Elder Blair, who is from my group we went to CCM Mexico together. That was
a lot of fun, hanging out with him Monday until Wednesday when we left. We got
really interesting instructions; the first day they said “hey you guys can go
visit your investigators, say goodbye to them, and then go and help Fontana and
go contact all day.” So we went and contacted some of my investigators. For
that day we went over to my area. We walked from Campiña to Jordán. It’s about
30-40 minutes walking, I would guess that would be about 3 miles. We walked
over to my area and went to go visit a convert that we had baptized while I was
there and turns out that I ran into an investigator that we had, her name is
Idalys, and her husband, Roberto. Roberto is a miembro… Wow… English… He’s a member from his childhood. We were
teaching them, they are from Venezuela, so their financial situation is very
tight. They live in Bogotá right now, they have both got degrees. She teaches
(it would be like Elementary School) and he is a software designer, but because
they are from Venezuela they cant find anything. So they have to re-certify
themselves. They basically have to go to school again. Do all of it again to be
able to start over here in Colombia. That’s how it is for the Venezuelans.
Anyway, so we ran into them in the street and we had been
visiting Idalys since I got there, and visiting her and visiting her and
visiting her. They were awesome, they always came to church. Roberto is now the
secretary of the Elder’s Quorum. But Idalys never was interested. So we stopped
visiting her for a good month or month and a half, maybe more. We ran into her
on the street on my last day in that area and we started talking and I felt
moved to ask her if she felt like she was ready to accept the missionaries
again. Then she looked at me and she smiled and said: “ Elder Lewis, I was
talking with Roberto, and I want to be baptized!” It just left me floored. I
said: “Are you serious?” she said: “yes.” And I said: “what moved you to make
that decision?” and she said: “Answers from my Heavenly Father.” And my heart
just filler with love. I felt so happy. After that I congratulated them and
then said that I was going to get in contact with Elder Villarroel and his new
companion to go and visit them and to baptize her. So I went over to the next
store that had a phone, me and Elder Blair were walking around without a phone,
and we went over to the next store, here in Colombia you can go to an internet
store and they have a cell phone that you can buy minutes. So I went over and I
called Elder Villarroel and talked to him about it and at the end I just said:
“Elder, contact her and baptize her.” And he just said: “ I’ll do it.” And I
said: “thanks. Chao.” So that was cool.
Then we went over to the panaderia, where there was Victor
and we went over there and we taught Victor Sr. and a guy named Francisco, who
we have been teaching for awhile as well, and we put baptismal dates with both
of them. It was incredible. Me and Elder Blair, we just had a ton of success! I
don’t get it. The very last moment in that area and three baptismal dates there
in a space of an hour. But ya. It made me very happy and made me happy to leave
the area in a better shape than I found it. Still think that I could have done
more, had I been given the time to do it. But President told me in an interview
when I asked him about it that sometimes Elders want more time in an area, when
really, it’s time to move on. C’est La Vie. So that was a good day. We went
around and we worked in just about every area of the zone. Then on Wednesday
they gave us different instructions. They said: “ Look, guys, we don’t have
anything to do. Just be here by 5.” And we said: “wait. What should we do
then?” “It’s up to you. just go do something.” So we said: “ok, we’re going to
Cota!” so we went to a little town outside of Bogotá called Cota. And we went
and contacted for a little bit and then we went up to an indigenous village. It
was super cool. Then we went up into the mountains, and we went up there with
the object of finding someone to teach. But also to get to know an indigenous
village. That was super cool. So we go up and there was a bamboo gate and as
you open up that gate, Elder Blair told me “Ok. Now you have to be silent.” So
we didn’t say a word. It’s super silent. There are all these huts with thatch
roofs. I’ll send pictures when I get them, Elder Blair has them. Thatch roofs.
It’s super, super quiet. All you could hear was this “click-click-click” and he
told me that was them working in the back. It’s a rule there that you don’t
talk when it’s not necessary. So we didn’t. There’s a sign there that says “Starting
a fire with good intentions is a prayer to God.” And then there was a hut that
smelled really strongly of smoke. The thing is that we didn’t find anybody up
there. It was empty. I was hoping to get to know, Elder Blair got to know the
Chief, or the Leader up there. They call him the Grandfather. El Abuelo. He said that he was super
cool, but I didn’t get to meet him. Anyway, up there it was very serio. There’s definitely stuff up there
to discover. It’s definitely got secrets. I know it. But ya, that was one of
the coolest experiences of my life. It was super green… I don’t know, I will
have to send the pictures.
Later that day, we went back into Bogotá and we were at the
terminal by 5. We picked up some new guys, I got put in charge of bringing some
new guys and 2 new sisters to Duitama, which is on the way to Sogamoso, and
another Elder that was going to Sogamoso. They are all fresh, fresh from the
CCM. That all went well. It really reminded me of when I got here. I got put
with an Elder Vasaca, he’s a gringo from Washington, and not knowing anything
and just asking him “When am I going to understand this?” and he said: “well,
like 6 months.” And thinking that was such a long time. Now I was on the other
side of the coin, being able to understand and able to communicate and not
really thinking about it. I was with Elder Coop, a new Elder from Texas, and he
was just asking all the same questions. It was like a shadow. It was really
surreal. It was a really weird couple of days, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Then I got to Sogamoso. I woke up in the morning to see a
horse and carriage out front. I was like “what the heck?” It wasn’t a wooden
carriage, it was a metal carriage with tires, but still, there were horses
pulling it. That’s all over here in Sogamoso. Sogamoso is like, I would think,
some parts look like Logan. They are like the size of Logan. The majority of it
is like Tremonton. We kinda got lost yesterday in the backcountry. We had an
hour walk to get to an appointment and I dunno. It was just silent. It was
really weird. There were cows and a lot of fields, really small fields but
fields. People out there working in the fields, and nothing but the animals.
There’s a river that’s just black, it’s super super dirty. Just black with
pollution, because there were places where there was like film in it, and it
smelled really bad. But ya. It’s been going pretty good. We have a couple of
investigators here. Hoping to find a couple more. We have one named Alumoso,
who is really awesome. First lesson that we went and taught with him was lesson
2, or the Plan of Salvation. He really didn’t want to commit to baptism, but he
said that after that lesson, he really felt something different. He felt really
peaceful. Then him and his Sister, who is a member, felt the presence of their
father, who had died awhile ago. He felt like he wanted him to move forward and
get baptized. So now he is getting baptized on the 16th of
September. That was super cool. We have a baptism this week, a teenager named
Juan Pablo. He is super juicioso, so I
don’t have any worries about that.
So as we are coming to a new area, I really just want to
focus on being humble here. I really just like want to make this transition
different than the last one. I was too cocky the last one. I really learned a
lot, so I am really just trying to follow really really well this time. Trying
to learn. Being a Zone Leader really hasn’t been much different than being
whatever other thing other than there are a lot of phone calls, people ask you
questions all the time. But really, it’s no different. So ya, that has been my
life for the last week. This recording has already been long enough, I think.
So I believe I will end it. I know that people are prepared to receive the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord promises us that there are people prepared. I
know that if we go out to find them, that the Lord will work miracles in our
lives to make us better tools, and he’s going to work miracles in their lives,
through us. I know that conversion takes place after the missionaries leave. I
know, more than anything, that Jesus is my Savior. I testify that he restored
his Gospel on the earth. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true, and that if
we read it we can know it. It contains the words of everlasting life. I so
testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
-Elder Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment