Cockroaches in Your Shoes

 As I told you last Monday, I am officially in my 3rd transfer in the field. I am in Barbosa again for another transfer. Elder Galleguillos is still here, Elder Carriel is still here, and I received a new companion, Elder Quispe. Elder Quispe has only 2 more transfers in the mission than I do. He is from Peru, short, kinda nerdy, but cool. He has served in Bucaramanga and in Bogotà. Elder Ramirez actually got sent to replace Elder Quispe in Bogotà. Elder Quispe is a good missionary. He is 19 as well and has only been a member of the church for 2 years. He knows the scriptures well, and I can learn a lot from him.

 He is definitely very different than Elder Ramirez. So far my only problem with him is that he is very slow. It drives me nuts. No worries though, I am the problem, not him. No problems so far between us. I think that we will be a dynamic teaching team here in Barbosa 1.

Our zone of 12 missionaries, 4 in Barbosa and 8 in Tunja got lowered to 10. There now are only 6 missionaries in Tunja, two of which are sisters. I do not know why there was a reduction, but just thought I would pass that on.

Despite this week being really disappointing, we did make some promising progress with Carolina. As I think I have told you already, Carolinaa is 17 living with her 18 year old boyfriend. Her family is not in Barbosa, and to be totally honest I am not sure why she is here. I like to think that she is here to meet us. Anyway, we had two really great lessons with her. She has a strong Christian background, as all Colombians do and is quite intelligent.

From Tanner's English Class

 We had to talk a little bit "hard" with her this week. She has a desire to be baptized, so I did what was needed and said that in order to comply with the Law of Chastity, you need to either marry or live separately from your boyfriend. People always say they do not enjoy talking "hard" to people, but I do not mind it. The hard things are what bless people the most. She took my charge well and is in the process of finding a new residence. It is small miracles like this that push me through the hardships. She attended sacrament meeting this week too. I have faith in her and I hope she has faith in us, but more importantly, in the truth of this church.

 We were looking to have an excellent week until Saturday and Sunday when we literally got dropped at every appointment. It was beyond frustrating. It is so hard to work so hard for someone and have them not want your help. It is all good though. We just had a few bad days. No worries.

We had a super powerful lesson with Valentina this week, then no show. Another huge disappointment. It is all good though.

 Elder Quispe and I spent a lot of time finding and contacting because Elder Ramirez wasn`t the "contacting" type and didn`t really enjoy working too hard. We spend many hours going door to door. Honestly, I do not mind it. Some missionaries hate it, but it is whatever. I like it. Hopefully our efforts bring out some promising new investigators from the wood work.

 My health has been fine this week. No worries. Knock on wood. Gross story though, I put on my shoe right before personal study, at 8:00. At 8:30 I got up to go to the bathroom and felt something in my shoe. I tore off my shoe to find a huge cockroach on my toes. Extremely gross considering I had been wearing the shoes for 30 minutes. Gross.

There is a rumor going around the mission that in 2015 Bogotà Norte will be receiving Gringas. I personally think it is bogus. They do not let gringos be together, ever, because it is so dangerous. How do they expect to bring in white sisters? Crazy. Don`t worry mom, Barbosa is super tranquillo. When I get transferred to Bogotà or Bucaramanga, kick up the prayers a little bit more. haha.