12-20-10

dear family,

 

this week was a little better... well a lot better.  I went to a city called manizales (which is the center of our area) it is about an hour bus ride away from chinchiná.  In manizales i went on splits with elder cox from wyoming.  He goes home at the end of this transfer and he is my zone leader.  it was a really good experience to do that.  I learned a lot from him and he gave some words of comfort.  and i got to speak english for a bit.

 

So i guess i forgot to tell you about my companion... sorry.  Elder Alfonso is from ecuador.  He is 23 and he goes home not this transfer, but the next.  He is a good guy and i really like him.  but he forgets that i don´t know spanish so it gets really frustrating at times. 

 

We taught a lot of people this week.  we went to this part of our area to meet with someone we had contacted and she wasn´t there... we were kind of discouraged because it is pretty far away...  but right as we were about to leave, we met another family.  they invited us in because it was about to rain.  we taught them about families and committed them to baptism!  it was really cool to see people that have been prepared for us.   this happened a couple more times throughout the week.  so this week,  we have set baptismal dates for 14 people!  (thats a lot...) 

 

On friday, we had a baptismal service.  we baptised 7 people!  6 of them are from one family and something cool about them is that before we came,  the mom and dad weren´t married.  we told them that they had to be married before they could be baptised.  So they got married and we had the opportunity to go to that.  So its pretty much really cool to see that we can change the lives of some people.

 

so as of now, the very best way to communicate is through email.  the pouch mail goes to the mission home and i only get it if i go there or if someone from there comes here so its not the best.  and its like 5 hours away.  but don´t hesitate to email.  I would love to hear from you.

 

So i will call on Christmas.  i´m not exactly sure what time.  i wish i could tell you more but i don´t know more.  I'm really excited to talk to you all!  I hope everything is going well and I love you and miss you all so much!!!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

    con amor,  

               Corey

12-13-10

Dear Family,

sorry i didnt get to email when i got here. i was kind of sad about that. things are going pretty good... this is pretty dang hard though. for the first time, i wish i was home right now. this is by far the hardest thing ive ever done. dont worry, im staying... i knew it was supposed to be but i didnt realize how hard it would actually be. i havent been able to relax in a week. I am having some sort of confusion of tounges... I cant seem to speak either language right now.  I havent spoken a full sentence in english for a week also. I think im going crazy. but tomorrow, i am going on splits with an american so that will help. 


My house is tiny and dirty. just imagine the smallest crappiest apartment and mine is worse. the only missionaries in my area is me and my companion. oh yeah i havent seen an american in a week either.  but there are 2 missionaries for the whole area. I am in a little city called chinchiná. It is a cool little place. lots of people with no morals though... No one can say my name, no one understands me and i cant understand anyone. It is super frustrating. my head is about to explode.  


sorry this is scatterbrained but its exactly what my brain is like. and sorry its kind of somber... im not feeling super good right now and i have a bad attitude so I cant seem to think of anything good to say. Dont feel bad for me either, cause i know i will learn the language and i know things will get better.  


So for now, dont plan on sending letters or packages. just email me. it is super expensive for me to send letters. and it costs over $100 to send a package. so just email me please. maybe take turns writing a big one too. I only have 1 hour to email. Just figure out something that works for you. 


i wish i had more good things to say... the only ones i can think of are that the members are all really nice and all the food is sort of good. They have lunch as their big meal, and when i say big meal, I mean huge meal. And if you dont finish it, they get offended. So pretty much im sick all the time. Oh well. Oh and we have 7 baptisms set up for friday. thats pretty cool. 


anyway, I hope all is going well in the best country in the world. I love and miss you all!

love,
Corey


OH I FORGOT. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colombia

Reciban un cordial saludo de parte de la MISION COLOMBIA CALI...  queremos informarle que su hijo esta muy  bien en la misión, él  fue asignado  para trabajar en el area de Manizales     con el elder  Alfonso, sabemos que harán un excelente trabajo.
Cualquier cosa que necesiten no duden en comunicarse con nosotros estamos para servirles.
Adjunto foto de la bienvenida a la misión
Con amor Presidente y hermana Bolívar

Elders

MTC Fun

12-03-10

Dear Family,

I'm getting out of here!!! It is 100% sure.  I saw my visa today and everything is set to go at 5:00 AM on Monday.  Well except Elder Richens... he hasn't gotten his visa, but it will be here in about a week.  (he is ok with that, so está bien)

It is super weird.  This whole week has been full of doing things for the last time.  Our last general authority devotional, our last p-day, our last time at the temple.  I'm actually gonna miss the MTC.  I'm really excited though.  It is finally real.  I can't hardly believe it! 

This week has been good.  Nothing new has happened though.  I wish I had more to report than I do, but I don't.  Except we actually had a little meeting about health and safety.  It was funny because the guy was like, "You can't eat anything, you can drink anything!"  He pretty much made it sound like we are going to die on our mission.  And then he introduced the water bottle filter thing.  I guess he was on the team that developed it or something.  But he said that we could fill up from any tap, river, or lake, and be perfectly fine.  He said that the filter lasts for like 500 gallons and that it is literally impossible for it to be contaminated.  It was funny because by the end of the meeting, we were all convinced it is the best thing every invented... 

Oh and he kept telling us about other things that his team are working on that were way awesome, and convinces us that we can't live without them.  Then he says, "but they come out next year, so you probably won't get them..."  It was just a funny meeting.  He was this old guy that has no sense of humor too.

But that is pretty much all that happened all week.  We have our last 2 classes with our teachers tomorrow and then a fast sunday.  We are pretty excited for the next big step in our missions.  I'm really excited to see where I will be in 4 days.  It is crazy.

I love being a missionary!!!  I'm super excited to teach real live people.  I know it'll be hard, but I think I'm up for the challenge. 

I'm definately gonna try and call everyone so be ready.  I really hope I can make it work.  It might be kind of early or it might be at about 3 or 4 or so.

Thanks for all the love and support!  I love you all so much.

Thanks for all the letters and everything.  I don´t know my address yet but I´m pretty sure I´ll get to email right when I get to Colombia.

Con Amor,

                Corey