Christmas Lights and Tanner's Favorite Investigator

My favorite investigator is Fernando and his wife. I have mentioned them before, but today I will fill you in a bit more. Fernando is from Venezuela. He is super cool. He sells Lechona, or deep fried pig. It is super tasty. I ate the pig ear and pig skin with him. He is also super smart. He knows more about the church than any of our other investigators. He is progressing, but at a very slow pace. He understands us super well and what we are doing. He is taking the right steps; the problem is that he is taking baby steps. I love him though. He also has a super cute little daughter named Karol. She is awesome and loves me. 

Typical meal

As for my health, all is well now. As for Thanksgiving, the people here do not celebrate it. Obviously. I spent Thanksgiving fasting. There is someone in the states that is really struggling right now in many different aspects of their life. I thought there couldn't be a better time to fast than on Thanksgiving. My day on the 27th was definitely different, but special if you ask me.

Sorry for the grammar and spelling. It is hard to retain English when you literally never speak it. Great.

 I have come to the realization that I am two things: Stubborn and Impatient. Mom, you have always told me that I have these two wonderful attributes, but I never listened. You were right. I hate being slow. I hate waiting. Patience is definitely a godly virtue, but currently I do not have it. I am working on it though. Elder Quispe is definitely helping me work on my patience. I love him to death, but he is just soooo slowwww. He honestly is the best, and I love him, but sometimes I just want to whip him into faster action. No worries though. I am stubborn too. Just a fact, but a fact that I need to change if I ever want to get married.

From a P-day excursion

 One funny note: Everyone here thinks that I have so much older than I actually am. When I tell people that I am 19 they all gasp. The typical guess is 25 and the highest I have ever received is 32. 32??? Seriously! When I ask why, they just say that my facial hair makes me look older and that my build is of a 25 year old´s. I do not know if this stuff is a compliment or not, but whatever. 32......

On Saturday we had a zone conference in Tunja. I hate the wasted time of traveling, but it was a good conference. As I am sure you all know, the church is starting a huge initiative called "Él es la Dádiva" or "He is the Gift." We received new pass along cards and videos to help us center our teachings in the month of December on Christ. It should be great. The video is super good. On the way home a little girl fell asleep on my left arm and a very fat farmer fell asleep on my right shoulder. It was such a great ride!!

Typical house

Not gonna lie, it has been real hard. Barbosa 1 is just struggling. We have no investigators, and the few that we have are wishy washy. We spent a butt load of time on our feet this week just trying to find new people. Unfortunately, not much success. A little, but we will have to see what happens with the new people that we found. Often times, people are just nice and let us talk to them. However, they have absolutely zero desire to learn. It is all good though.

Tanner and his dinner

 Despite the struggles in our area in regards to investigators and teaching opportunities, I honestly see light in the Barbosa Branch. Things are not easy here. If we get 4 or 5 people to ward council things are great. We also have not had a branch mission leader for the last 8 weeks. The last couple of weeks we have averaged 45 people for sacrament meeting. Despite the real struggles of being a branch for 20 years, in my opinion things are looking up. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Right now the light is dim, but at least there is light.  Overall, things are gonna get better here. Every week isn`t gonna be a walk in the park. Things are gonna be hard. Whatever though. This upcoming week will be better.

Christmas lights

Christmas here is huge. Every house that can afford it is decked out in lights and decorations. On the 7th there is a special Colombian and Venezuelan tradition where you put out candles during the night. Also, there has been non-stop fireworks for the last 2 days. It is like a warzone. Crazy.

I finished Jesus the Christ, by James E. Talmage. Excellent account of the life of Christ and everything surrounding him. Everyone should take the time to read it. My testimony and knowledge of the Savior is much stronger.

Christmas lights

 Quick note on Barbosa:  For the freshest milk, you go to the milk horse. Pretty much a guy on a horse rides around in the morning banging a pot with a stick. If you want milk, you go out and he ladles milk into your personal container. The milk is fresh, but that means it is also gross. We never use the milk-horse-man, but cool nonetheless.

For a washing machine, we call a guy that use to be an investigator. He brings the machine on his moto and carries it into our house. We fill it with buckets using water from the shower. When we are done, we call him and he picks it up. Not the best cleaning though. My white shirts are not exactly as white as they use to be. Haha no worries though.

Also, we were walking in the street and this guy was roasting some meat over his fire. In an effort to contact him, I asked him if he was selling his meat. He said no, but that if we wanted to try some he would let us. 15 minutes later his wife served us a full plate of yuca, cow liver, cow intestine, and cow heart. Delicious. The intestine was just ok considering I could not chew it, but the heart and liver were excellent. Yuca is always good too. Now I can say that I have eaten liver, heart, and intestine on the mission, plus I can say that I truly enjoyed it.

Chowing Down on Pig Ear

This week has been different. I will fill you in. Soooooo....... 

Unfortunately I do not have much to write about investigators. We did a ton of contacting this week. It was hot and sweaty, but I think it will bring some success. My knuckles did not bleed, but one day they got close. Haha. It is true!

 So an update on my body: All is good as of now. Things were bad. So I wrote you all on Monday. Tuesday I felt sick but fine. Wednesday night I got hit by a bus.... of sickness. I got home and was running a 39.5 fever. Run the math, Dad. Let’s just say it was a hot one. I didn`t get to sleep until 3 AM because of sickness. I felt horrible on Thursday, but the work progressed. A little, actually more like a lot, of sickness isn`t gonna slow us down. I feel bad now, but Elder Quispe wanted to say home in the morning one morning because he was feeling sick. I told him no and that he would be fine. Looking back, I let my zeal turn me into a jerk. That won`t happen again. That was a mistake on my part. Overall, I was sick this week, but now I feel fine. No worries, Mom.

Eating pig ear

 Also, I do not know if I have mentioned this, but I lead the music during Sacrament meeting. Not gonna lie, the singing isn`t the prettiest, but I love it. I want to sing a hymn in Spanish when I come home. I am learning to really love the hymns. They are truly prayers in song form. They are great.

Some notes on culture here: People love musica Christiana. There is Christian rock, rap, reggae, salsa, etc. It is ridiculous. An investigator showed us Christian death metal the other day. It is just plain horrible. I wish they would turn their religious zeal into a better form of worship.

Pig Ear

 Also, after almost 5 months of being in the mission, I am now finally legal. I received my Colombian ID. It is cool. I have been in Colombia with just a crappy copy of my passport. Luckily it has gotten me through every policia stop so far. It feels good to carry something legit now.

Chelsey, people here love their cheese. Queso is super big here. There are stores dedicated to cheese and nothing more. I have eaten some very strong cheeses. Not exactly my favorite. You would probably like it.

As to other crazy foods.... This week when teaching my favorite investigator, Fernando, he brings out a pig`s ear. He cooks Lechona, or pig, and serves it on Sundays. This is a major reason for the super slow progress that he is making. We have eaten the pig skin before and it is super delicious, but the ear wasn`t my favorite. It was huge, as you can see from the pictures, and was cold and crunchy. You had to put some major effort into eating it. Overall, good flavor, but just the thought of eating a pig`s ear wasn`t my favorite. Great though. 

 Dad, one thing that I have thought a bunch about this week is love, the most important commandment. I feel that this commandment is often overlooked in its difficulty. According to the Sermon on the Mount, we are supposed to love those that hate us, murder us, and wish the worst for us. We are supposed to put the welfare of those people before ourselves. In reality, this commandment, in my mind, is the hardest of all. How can I love someone that wants to kill me? It is so difficult to think about and comprehend. It goes to show how much God and Jesus love us. They love those that curse them. They love those who hurt their other children. For me, it is so hard to comprehend. Just my thoughts. Sorry if they are a bit jumbled.

So the reason why I didn`t write on Monday is because Monday morning we received a call that we needed to be in Tunja for interviews. Not gonna lie, I wasn`t too excited to spend my PDAY in a bus feeling sick. However, we did as were told. The interview with President Andelin was good. He pretty much said, how are you and how is your family. The interview didn`t last longer than 6 minutes. Nothing too special. Then on Tuesday we had the Zone Leaders in Barbosa for intercambios with Elder Galleguillos and Elder Carriel. Cool stuff.

Elder Quispe and I are good. Nothing is bad between us. He grinds my gears sometimes, but then again so do you all. Haha. We work well together and he is a great teacher. I am soaking up as much as his knowledge as I can. I can learn so much from him. 

Overall this week was another long and tough one. The sickness did not help and we had to drop a few more people. Right now we literally have two investigators, neither of which are progressing. No worries though. There will be a chapel here one day. I know it!

A Rough, Faith-Filled Week

Tanner's new companion, Elder Quispe, is on the left.

 SOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This week was really hard. Despite our best efforts to be obedient and work our hardest, things are just falling. No worries though...

One of the people Tanner has been working with has had some incredibly tragic stuff occur in her life and in particular this past week. Unfortunately, there was little Tanner could do to help. Due to the sensitive nature of her life story, I have chosen to exclude it from the blog, but I will include Tanner’s reaction.

We instantly began to fast for her. My heart was literally broken for her. I do not know what else to say.

Although we never have problems with mosquitoes, there is a new rule in the mission. You can probably guess what it is.

We had a killer lesson with Valentina this week. The President of the Branch was there and for the first time he did a great job. She was a no show in church. It has gotten to the point that we will have to stop teaching her. I love Valentina so much. I have worked with her for three transfers. However, if people do not want to change, I cannot drag them to Christ. It must be their desire. I hope that one day she will regain the desire to come unto Christ.

 Also, Juan Carlos pretty much told us that we were wasting our time with him. I do not know what brought this change of heart, but it was a killer.

So we literally will be stopping work with three best investigators. I do not know how to write my feelings about this.

Watch tan

Elder Quispe and I are great. He is from Peru and has only been a member for 1 year before his mission. He is 8 months in the mission and is short, a little nerdy, but great. I am learning more from him than I did during my two transfers with Elder Ramirez. I really like Elder Quispe. His knowledge of the scriptures and doctrine is outstanding. I am trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible.

 So I ate chicken feet this week. We did some service for an investigator of Elder Galleguillos and Elder Carriel. She served us soup with chicken feet. You pretty much slurp up the entire foot, suck off all the skin and cartilage and the tiny bit of meat, then spit out the tiny bones. Good taste, gross texture. Cool.

Emma, Colombia is Colombia. Not Columbia.

Also, there is no Thanksgiving here, but Christmas is huge here. There have been trees up with lights for over a month now. The people here are more crazy about Christmas than Chelsey is!!

I also have been super sick as of yesterday. During the night time I just got hit by a wave of freezing cold. My body ached, and aches. That night I could not sleep as I wrestled with a fever and waves of diarrhea and vomiting. I was so cold but sweating like a pig. I did not sleep very much. Today I feel slightly better, mostly due to the drugs in my body. However, I am still super sick as I write this.  Whatever though.

So overall this week was super hard, both physically and emotionally. We have so much work to do. We need to find more people to teach. This week will be a good one. I know it.

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.

Helping Out on a Farm and Getting a New Companion

That night we had the baptism of Alberto. It was supposed to start at 6 but because only Alberto´s family was there at 6 we waited until 6:30. The service was sweet until the actual baptism took place. For a reason totally unknown to me, Elder Ramirez refused to fill the font higher than knee height. Not to mention, the water was freezing. It took three tries to get Alberto under, and at the end he was saying "no more, no more." It was heartbreaking, funny, sad, and wonderful all at the same time. I wish they would let us to baptisms in the river. It would be so much easier. Overall, it was a crazy night but really great. I participated in the confirmation of Alberto, and there was a really sweet spirit. 

 Also, as you will see from the pictures, on Friday we had a "Fiesta de Sombreros." Pretty much you just make funny hats and have a party. It was fun to see the ward happy and in unity.

I also bore my testimony in Sacrament Meeting. I just shared how grateful I am for the commandments and the atonement.

Monday I was real sick. Vomiting, diarrhea, everything. Not the best feeling.

 I am actually currently writing this email from Tunja (don´t even try to pronounce it). Today is transfer day and I am getting a new companion. I am STAYING in Barbosa but am receiving a new companion. He is from Peru, I do not know his name yet, and he has only 2 more transfers than I do. Hopefully he is chill. I am staying the night here in Tunja because he will not arrive until late tonight. Cool.

Wish me the best of luck with my new comp. His name is something like Elder Quispe.

 Speaking of Elder Ramirez, he is headed to Bogota to the zone where you wear suits every day. For the last two weeks he has been preaching that he is leaving and that he is not going to have more time here. He was right, but it was super annoying especially when he began to slack at the end of the week. Whatever.

 On Saturday we had a cool day. In the morning we went to a member´s finca, or farm. We spent pretty much the entire day doing service. They own a bunch of land in the middle of nowhere with a house and farm. We raked for a really long time.It was a cool experience.

On Thursday we had the Zone Leaders come to interview Alberto for baptism. We had thought that one Zone Leader would go with Barbosa 1 and another with Barbosa 2, but when they arrived they informed us that Barbosa 1 was being split. Pretty much, I was with 1 Zone Leader for the day and Elder Ramirez was with the other. Elder Rejala and I had a really good day. He is a solid missionary that taught me a bunch in just 10 hours. It was a good day other than when I fell into a giant street river. That was gross. When it rains in Barbosa, it pours. I was a little bit wet when I got home.

On Tuesday we had intercambios (exchanges) with Barbosa 2, which pretty much means sleep in different beds and teach in different parts of Barbosa. Elder Galleguillos came to Barbosa 1 with me and we had a killer day. I don´t want to brag, but my planning was exceptional.

Literally the hardest thing for people here is coming to church. Also, our appointments get dropped so often. People are just so laid back that they just say, "Oh another day." It is a bit frustrating.

Waging War Against Ants and the Riding in Smallest Bus

Throw back to when Tanner was in the MTC in Bogota

I also have waged a war against the ants. Turns out that our emergency supply of food had been broken into. This supply of food is right above my dresser. I have literally killed thousands of ants this week. I piled up their bodies near their "hole" as a symbol of destruction. I took the idea from Lord of the Rings. It is cool.

Also, billiards is really big here. There is a billiards place every other street. The old men, literally every night, get hammered and play pool. We played pool one preparation day; it was fun.

Tanner think he looks like someone from LOST.

We hit another road block with Valentina. Her eye got infected. We had planned an awesome lesson with a bunch of members where they were going to teach. Nope. Didn`t happen. We just keep hitting road block after road block. It is frustrating, but we have the support of the Branch President. He is trying to help and with his help, it will eventually happen. Thank you for the prayers.

Luis also ditched us this week. We again had a super great lesson planned with an investigator. No show. Dangit. It is all good. People have their agency. He will improve in the future. I am confident.

Carolina is doing well. She is progressing and even attended seminary class after our lesson with her. One big problem, she is living with her boyfriend. She is only 17 and her family lives in Bogotà. I am afraid this will be a major road block. However, I hope for the best.

Traveling in the smallest bus

 We had a cool experience this week. We have been working a bit with a long time investigator, Juan Carlos. He is super unreliable. Anyway, it has gotten to the point where yesterday we were very frank and said that if you want us to help you change your life, you need to help us help you. He took this "ultimatum" very well and is determined to do better.

We also got ditched by Fernando. That was a bummer. However we have an appointment with him right after this. Fingers crossed. We are working with others as well. These are just the main ones at the moment.

Tunja

Much to my chagrin, we had to travel to Duitama on Saturday for stake conference. It literally killed the entire day. We traveled to Duitama, had the conference, and then traveled to Tunja where we slept with the Tunja Central missionaries. It was fine. My back hurts a wee bit. Then on Sunday we had to attend another session of stake conference in Tunja. This killed that day too. However, the session was a direct satellite broadcast from SLC only to Colombia. Elder Holland spoke and others. It was cool. The stake conferences went well, but it killed two of our best days. Not my favorite.

We also traveled in the smallest bus so far. Every crack in the road my head would hit the ceiling. Dad wouldn’t have been able to fit. When we finally arrived back in Barbosa my forehead was literally covered in small goose eggs everywhere. Crazy.

Also, I may have mentioned this already, but we play UNO for food. The first person to lose three times has to pay for food. It is great to be fed with someone else’s money.

Just another eventful week in Barbosa!

Alberto is great. No worries there. His mom is great too. Our lessons, although dumbed down for a nine year old, are helping her as well. Everyone, no matter how rich, poor, old, young, etc. can benefit from even the simplest of lessons. I really enjoy teaching them.

 We bought a mask and scared Elder Carriel for his birthday. Apparently Halloween is big here in Colombia. (See picture.)

I have arrived at the point where I do not brush the ants off my food anymore. There are just too many. The sensation is weird, ants crawling around in your mouth. Whatever though.

 We are also working with Fernando, the pig man. He is super smart and knows a lot about religion. He said that he is a black and a white kinda guy. I told him that the Book of Mormon is a black or a white kind of book. It is either false or true. We are meeting with him later on tonight.

This picture is of bocadillo - one of Tanner's favorite things to eat.

 Once when traveling to a meeting in another city, Tanner's transport broke down. Enjoy the picture of that adventure!

 So this week we had a great lesson with Valentina about faith and "works." It was so powerful and so solid. She was so happy to be talking with us again after our "siesta" from teaching her due to her illness the week before. She was so "in" the lesson. However, she didn't attend church. It was a real bummer. After such a great lesson and a determination to press forward in faith, she kind of dropped the ball. No worries though. I’m not giving up.

Another picture from when Tanner and his companion's transportation broke down in the countryside.

We are making progresses with others as well. Luis, the guy that almost had is hand chopped off because he could not pay his electricity bill, wants to be baptized. He just cannot attend church. This is a problem for many of our investigators. We are praying for a miracle.

 Also, we are working with a 17 year old girl that literally looks Emma’s age. She is super smart and is super interested. We contacted her via my English Class, which, by the way, was super good this week. I put a large black board out in the street that says "Free English Class with a Gringo." It draws a lot of attention.

 Also, on Saturday we were walking with Felipe, a recently reactivated boy our age. He accompanies us a lot and is pretty chill. He is 21 and although only being reactivated recently, we have been helping him with his mission papers. Anyway, we were walking when suddenly we get surrounded by army men. Felipe tries to run (not a good move) and is quickly caught. Military service in Colombia is required. You must serve. You can get out of it by either being physically or mentally incapable or by paying 3 million pesos, or 1500 dollars. Felipe is super poor so he can’t pay.

 He has been dodging the military for a while, and they eventually caught him. They took him to a different city to process him. He is in a weird stage of being under arrest, but not completely, at the same time. It is not good. He will probably be unable to serve a mission now. Also, apparently a pretty common thing to do here is to pay girls to get pregnant and say that the baby is of the person being called to serve in the military. This is a way out of serving, but it really tragic.