Meet Tanner's Trainee!

Elder Reyes and me. He dies (goes home) tomorrow

 Unfortunately, this letter will be pretty lame. Despite it being Preparation Day, we ended up doing an eight hour long service project. I smell very ripe.

I will get into it though.

So, my kid´s name is Elder Pinoargote. Yes, that is spelled correctly. He is from Ecuador, 18 years old, skinny, and shorter than I. He has been a member of the church for less than a year and a half. He is cool and wants to work hard and be obedient. Those things are good with me. His family was baptized roughly 18 months ago. Only his mom and his younger brothers are members. The father is not. He is excited to do the work.

This week was kinda rough and crazy, just because I was not entirely ready for it. It all started when on PDAY of last week, I had to go to Bogotá with Elder Villarroel to pick up Elder Pinoargote. That killed all of PDAY, so there was no time to wash clothes, write you all, read, etc. After picking him up we had to travel overnight to Aguazul and then start working. Bus sleep is not horrible, but not real sleep. 

My bed for the week.

Also, it didn´t really hit me until we were in our first lesson that Elder Pinoargote really doesn´t know how to do anything. That sounds horrible, but as new missionaries you really do not know how to teach, when to speak, where to go, and overall what to do.

I am not saying that his testimony is not strong, because it really is, but for the first couple of weeks you are just super new and need a lot of help.

That came to my realization and I adjusted to accommodate. I have just had to pull a lot more weight this week, which was fine, just different.

No idea what animal this is.

 Also, on Thursday afternoon I got real sick. We finished off the day though. My head killed and my stomach had a ton of pain. Some member gave me some local remedy of hot aguapanela with lime and salt. It was disgusting, but after a night of a high fever and a ridiculous amount of sweat, I felt better. That allowed us to work without problems on Friday. So things are good now.

I am running low of time, so....

One funny story. After showering I felt something in my hair. It was cockroaches. I am guessing that they were in my towel, I didn´t see them, and then when I dried my head I didn´t feel them transfer. They were not that big.

This picture does not adequately show how huge this dog is.

Also, I was able to be a part of something really special this week. On Thursday we went to the "house" of Abla to teach. We arrived to find Juan David, her three month old baby boy, real sick with Chickunguña. He was bad with fever, his skin had developed an acne like rash which is common with the disease, and was bad with bone pain. Anyways, he was in bad shape and this is dangerous for all, especially for little babies. She was real worried and asked if I could do anything. After Elder Pinoargote anointed the baby with a drop of consecrated oil, I sealed the anointing and pronounced a blessing upon the baby. It was a strong, sacred experience.

We returned the next day to check up on them. Turns out as we left, Juan David´s pain left, his rash left, and his fever left. Abla told me that she was sure that what we did was a miracle. I was just able to bear my testimony to her that the Priesthood is a real, sacred power that I am so grateful to hold and to magnify it. Through the Priesthood, that small baby was healed.

Becoming a Missionary "Father"

Intercambios with Elder zuniga de Chile

Everyone uses the same two cups to drink out of the water fountain. I love it.

It turns out that I will be a father. For those who do not understand, a “father” or trainer is a missionary that trains a new missionary for typically three months. I will be training in Agauzul. Elder Villarroel, my old companion, left for Suba, a zone in Bogotá. I do not know who is my “kid” yet as we will be meeting them later this afternoon. Unfortunately we will have to drive back to Agauzul tonight throughout the night. Should be fun. 

 Yesterday, Monday, we had to leave from Aguazul at 11 AM and we arrived in Bogotá at 8 PM. The ride was absolutely stunning. Just twists and turns through the mountains. It was really beautiful. Right now I am with Elder Carriel, the same missionary that was in the same house in Barbosa. He is also receiving a kid.

We got soaked.

 I am excited to be a father. I will do my best to help this new missionary become a solid, dependable, and spiritual missionary. There is grand work to be done in Aguazul.

The bird

Iguanas and Stomach Wounds

Tanner with a recently deceased iguana

This week was really great. We had a lot of teaching opportunities. It was good.

We are teaching Diego still, obviously. He is really a fun man to teach and is really just interesting. He has definitely come a long way from what he was. He is doing well, reading the Book of Mormon, praying and attending church. We are still waiting on his surgery. His belly is just gross. He always has a bandage, but the fluids leak through and it smells. He is funny about it. Don´t worry, I am not gonna get sick from him. (Note: His family was more concerned about Tanner bringing an infection to Fernando.)

 We are also teaching a family called the family Pardo as well. I pretty sure I spelt that wrong, but whatever. They are an unmarried couple with 4 kids, of which only one kid is from the "dad" and "mom." They are nice. The dad pretty much acts like a drunk all the time even though he rarely drinks. I just think it is his personality. He is kinda strange. They are cool but sometimes frustrating to teach. I sometimes wish people would just focus and listen. Anyways, their kids are really cute. Andres, 8 years old, rode his bike to church by himself, a 20 minute trip, then slept all during sacrament meeting. His neck looked like it was about to snap by the way he was sleeping. I love it when kids are more "juicioso" then their parents. They are fun.

We are also teaching Liliana. She is a middle age women that pretty much is great when it comes to listening and understanding. Her problem is coming to church. She already wants to be baptized, in a river is what she told us, but she is lacking church attendance. She thought that she had to pay to be baptized. We cleared that up fast. Haha. She is great, we just need to fortify her faith and strengthen her church attendance.

 Also, Aguazul´s first ever missionary leaves for Argentina this week. They had a "going away party" and we invited an investigator. There was time for everyone to get up and pay tributes, and then our investigator gets up and gives a short almost preacher like speech. It was crazy. Then one of our other investigators started slow clapping, then everyone started slow clapping, then everyone applauded. It was so funny. The best part is that she ended and walked over to Nixoon, the boy leaving, gave him a hug, then came over to us, and gave us the typical Colombian face/cheek kiss. Obviously, as missionaries, we do not do face kisses, but she came over and just did it. It was so funny and awkward at the same time because the fifty people there all know that missionaries don´t do that. Everyone just started to die laughing. It was funny. I probably didn´t explain that story very well, but you get the main point.

Bienvenido a Aguazul, Tanner!

Elder Correa and Tanner

 So there is a lot to write, I will get started.  First, it is a tough one to leave Bucaramanga. I love that city and the people there so much. I learned to love people that I did not think possible. The members there are really great, and I hope the converts that the Lord blessed us with will be faithful until the end. I really love Bucaramanga. I hope that maybe I can return to the city and serve in the other zone that is there. When we visit, Bucaramanga will be on the hit list.

So on to other adventures and other work. I already told you about how the trip went and stuff. But pretty much to fill you in the rest, I spent the majority of the day Tuesday with the zone leaders in Salitre. We did some stuff that they needed to do. Then I went to the trainer and trainee meet up meeting. It was pretty strange actually. It was me, the trainers, the trainees, the APs, and President Andelin. I was pretty much a misfit. It was funny. I was just waiting to get on a bus with a trainer and his trainee going to Yopal. We left Bogotá at roughly 10 PM Tuesday and arrived in Yopal 6 AM Wed. It was 8 hours to sleep on the bus. Not the best sleep.

So Yopal is a pretty big city, roughly 200 thousand people. Obviously much smaller than Bucaramanga though. To get to Aguazul, you have to take a 45 minute bus. It just takes you out to the middle of nowhere and that is Aguazul.

 Aguazul is really calm. Like too calm. The way I would describe it would be to watch a documentary on run down Detroit, then throw in some Colombian vibes, and you would have Agauzul. The people are nice so far.

So I thought that Barbosa was nothing, yep nope. Aguazul is nothing. It is a small city of roughly 30 thousand that is completely flat. It is just gridded blocks. I think that area wise it is bigger than Barbosa. It is just block after block after block. It definitely is poorer than Barbosa. Sometimes it looks like we are in a Colombian ghost town. It is cool though. Every house, literally every, has a fish net hammock thing called a Chincurrro. Every house. I will pick one up before I leave this city. Also, there are Iguanas everywhere. There are just tons of them. I want to try and eat one. I just need to find someone that wants to prepare it for me.

The apartment that we live in is actually pretty big, just really old and really dirty. I spent a chunk of time today just sweeping. It was gross how much grossness I picked up. I will try and tackle a different part of the house every preparation day. Hopefully by the time I leave it will be a bit better. We have not had any problems with water yet. From what I have heard, I arrived during the part of the year when it is on the colder end. Obviously, it is still extremely hot, but just less hot than normal. During this "cold" season there usually are not very many problems with water, so I should be good. The shower though produces very little water. It is hard to get really clean when the flow is very minimal. And of course, it is not hot water. I miss hot water.

Also, the last day in Bucaramanga I was served cow stomach and cow tail. Both were good, just a different texture. It was cool.

Church Building and Yard

As for the branch here, it is real small. There is an average of 35 members that attend weekly, many of which are young children. It is a house chapel but literally like a chapel in a house. It is cool though. Real small and the members are really tight. It looks like they actually want to progress and do their duties as members, unlike Barbosa. The gospel principles class is outside of the building under a Native American looking teepee thing. I will take more photos this week.

I am with Elder Villarroel from Bolivia. He is 19 and has 6 months in the mission. He is a good elder and the branch really loves him. He wants to do the work and be obedient, because his last companion was really a horrible missionary. We get along good and he teaches well too. I think we will have a good transfer or two together.

There are a bunch of investigators that we have. I think that we have a lot because we are in a small city, but I assume few will progress. We will have to see.

One investigator worth mentioning is Diego. He is roughly 32 years old and his body is a wreck. He has a ton of tattoos, scares everywhere, and is currently waiting for a surgery to close up his abdominal area that is literally just open. Someone tried to slit his throat before in the past and he survived. He also has multiple gun wounds. His body is like Frankenstein. The ab area is the thing that is most pressing right now. He is waiting to get it closed up and should be baptized after it heals. Just imagine all the skin covering your abs just gone, with all the insides just there to see. It is hideous, but cool. He is definitely a crazy guy, but he is changed a lot. His baptismal water will definitely be pretty dirty afterwards. I will keep you updated. There are others, but I do not know too many of them that well yet. We will do good work here.

One bad thing. Every time we have a zone conference, we have to drive 8 hours each way to Bogotá. That is gonna be rough. So Aguazul is really good. I am sure that I will learn to love it as I did with Bucaramnga and Barbosa. Definitely different though.

Tanner is Getting Transferred. Saying Goodbye to Bucaramanga.

 So things are pretty nuts right now. I’ll explain. So the week was good overall in Diamante. It was sad to leave. I love Diamante and Bucaramanga so much. The people there are so great. Really great people. I hope that I left the ward and the investigators in better shape than I found it. It was a bummer to say goodbye. A few people cried again. That makes ya feel good. There is a lot of love in Bucaramanga.

So we received the call for transfers Sunday night. I left Diamante II in Bucaramanga for Aguazul in Yopal. There are pretty much two zones in the mission where nobody wants to go. Barrancabermeja and Yopal. So I am headed to one of them. I had to take a bus from Bucaramanga to Bogotà which was roughly 11 hours. It was not very smooth. I arrived here last night and spent the night with the ZL’s here in the zone Salitre. I will leave for Yopal later on this day as I will be traveling as the group leader for a new missionary and his trainer. I will be the DL in Yopal. Yopal has 6 elders and Aguazul has 2. Yopal is more or less a city and then Aguazul is a small "town" outside of Yopal. I will be in Aguazul. It is about 10 hours to Yopal from Bogotà. 

Yopal is the most isolated area in the mission. It has a bad rep for really hard living conditions. Like no water for weeks. It is about to get real nasty. It is also much hotter than Bucaramanga, and I thought Bucaramanga was hot. From what I have heard, Yopal is not dangerous. We will wait and see. I am imagining that it is somewhat like Barbosa. It has a branch meeting in a casa-chapilla, or house chapel. I will see what I can do there. Should be fun. Fire Up. 

Don`t have much time to write. Transfers are always nuts. I am here with the Zone Leader as they have to send in reports to the mission home. I gotta run. 

Baptisms, Mammograms, and Shaved Legs

 So, the baptism of Fernando went well. He passed the interview and everything. Other than starting late, which is common in Colombia, the service went well. We had a good amount of ward members there too. The Spirit was there, and the service was sweet. I performed the baptism as he asked me too. It was nice.

The confirmation also went well. The wife bore her testimony afterwards. It was good for the first five minutes, but then it just went off the cliff. She just went on forever on a story and other things. 20 minutes later she finished as the Bishop whispered in her ear. It was a great confirmation nevertheless.

 Also, I received a really low blow when Felipe accidentally erased all of my photos from my camera. All of them. I have all of them backed up until my time with Elder Correa. That is the good news. But, all the photos that I didn`t send to you over these last 12 weeks are most likely gone. One of the members knows a way to recover the deleted photos, but we will have to see. I think it is improbable. It was a bummer and I was just like, you gotta be kidding me. There are more important things than photos though. All good.

Sandra and Juan are well. We had a really great Family Home Evening with them with the Acuña family. They accepted a fecha and things were good. The problem is that they live with the dad and mom and the dad is an alcoholic. Things are in a bad situation. He goes nuts and tries to hurt her, etc. It is sad. But we are trying to help. We will keep it up.

Carolina is well. She got big, fast. She is pregnant, but the baby belly just showed up out of nowhere. Baby Tanner must have kicked into growing mode. She is good, but still really struggling.

Mom, what is a mammogram??? Is that something for pregnancies? Are you pregnant? That would be weird, and cool. Lemme know.

Shaved one leg for fun

 This week was pretty standard. We had a special meeting with President Andelin with only the District Leaders. It was good. He leaves pretty soon. Only one more transfer for him. Crazy. I also did interviews this week. I enjoy them. They really are not that hard, or maybe I have yet to have a hard one. We will see.

The next time I write, I have no idea where I will be. Something will definitely change, we will have to wait and see. If I don`t write Monday, it is because I am traveling or we just had a crazy day. Don`t go nuts.

The week was pretty normal with teaching and such. We have a new challenge to find a much larger number of new investigators. Zona Bucaramanga is by far the zone with the most success right now. The zone had 7 baptisms this weekend. The zone is in really good shape. The district is well too. All good. The sisters have a baptism this upcoming week which is really good.

One sister had to have her appendix taken out. We went to their house with Elders Brown and Gonzalez and gave a blessing. The sisters’ houses are MUCH nicer that our houses. It is totally different. They also receive much more money. Sisters....

All is good though. No good stories. Some guy told us that he murdered 4 people. We left that lesson very fast.

I know that what we do is right. I like the quote. We are not obedient because we are blind; we are obedient because we can see. I like that so much. I love you all very much. I am doing this work for many reasons, one of which is you all. I wouldn't trade you all for anyone, anything. You are my family.

General Conference Viewing and Tanner's Improving Jumping Skills

My Zone Leader and I

 So this week was a good one. Unfortunately my companion picked up a cold, and then gave it to me. He got better fast, but I have had a cold all week. It isn’t debilitating, just a pain. No worries though.

This week was good with teaching. Juan Carlos should be baptized this Saturday without trouble. Knock on wood. He is good and is very prepared. Carolina`s fecha will definitely fall though. We are being patient, but it is just so slow. No worries there. We just need to press forward.

We didn`t have any crazy teaching experiences this week. Just the normal. We got cut a bit short with two prime days totally gone, but it was still good.

 We are making progress with a woman named and her 8 year old son. They were almost baptized almost 5 years ago but things happened. I think that this time they are more prepared. They just need a lot of love from the ward. We will see.

General Conference was really good. We were able to watch all five sessions in English. That was nice. It was excellent. President Boyd K Packer`s talk was just what I was thinking. It was one of my favorites.

Elder Holland was a favorite of mine, as usual. I don`t have my notes with me right now, but I got notes on all of them. Too bad the Elder from Africa was almost impossible to understand.

My hops are improving

All of the North American elders got together in our chapel and watched it in a small upstairs room. It was real good.

Mom is right, Easter is big here. It is called the Semana Santa, or Holy Week. Pretty much every one has off on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Some days it was just dead in the streets. It was cool though. The Catholics have interesting traditions.

Nothing really else happened this week. Sorry the letter is so lame. I really do love you all. I am excited to live with all of you forever. There is no knowledge closer to my heart.