Monday, June 27, 2011

6-27-11


Dear Family,
 
So this week I figured out why this area has such a hard time.  As you have probably noticed, we havent baptised in about 3 and a half months...  That is really bad.  Even for this mission.  This mission doesnt baptize a whole lot but its definatley better that what we have seen here.   They always say that success comes through obedience, diligence, etc...  So we have been working our butts off.  We want baptisms!  But yesterday I figured it all out.  We were invited to Ward Council.  So we prepared for it and got everything ready to go.  We got there and it was a circus.   It was the worst meeting I have ever been to.   I learned that the leaders here dont really care about anyone.  They are all really young and inexperienced.  The problem here in this ward is that the leaders dont do anything to strengthen the ward.  They dont do activites and they dont care about the people who are sick.  I am 100% convinced that this is the problem.  I think the Lord is waiting for the ward to fix its problems.  He doenst want to give a wrong impression to investigators that come.  So now we have to be really direct and bold.  Our mission impossible here is to fix the ward.
 
I have learned how to not fight with my companion...  I simply have to accept everything he says to be true and I cant contend with him at all.  The hard part is that he is wrong almost all the time.  But I have learned that it is way better to submit to what he says than to be mad at him all the time.  Its working now, so we will see how it goes...
 
President Prince comes this week.  Its gonna be weird but interesting to see what happens.  President Bolivar is already working on transfers.  So they say almost everyone is going to change.  But, we will see.   He is coming to Meddellin to meet us on the 4th of July.
 
Holy cow!  Its almost the 4th of July!  Happy Birthday America!!!  I guess its in a week or so... but still...  Have a good 4th of July for me everyone!  Go to the cabin or do something real cool!
 
Last week for Pday,  we pretty much toured Meddellin.  We went on the metro and the metro cable (its like a gondola that goes through the city... cause meddellin is a mountain...)  Then we went to a cemetery and found the grave of Pablo Escobar.  That was cool. 
 
Well the truth is, I´m about out of things to say.  Have a good week everyone!
 
Love,
    Corey

Monday, June 20, 2011

6-20-11


Dear Family,
 
I made a fool of myself again yesterday...  There is a new guy in the ward here who is visiting from Florida to study here Medellin.  He was born in Colombia but didn´t live here very long.  So he speaks spanish but not very well.  I could see he was struggling so we started to talk in English.  I would be talking and talking and then realize that I hadn´t been speaking in English...  I don´t know why its so hard.  But I´ll get to practice a bit more with him later.  But it feels good to finally be comfortable with the language.  I don´t know if I told you already but here in Medellin, there are many people whose ancestors came from Europe.  So there are lots of white guys.  So sometimes before people really know me, they think I am from Medellin (or Argentina...).  So it feels really good when they compliment me.
 
Speaking of which... I like to ask people where they think I´m from.  Its funny to hear their answers.  They almost never guess right.  I think they already know that I am a gringo, but they always guess Germany, Holland, Spain, Argentina, Canada, etc...  I don´t quite understand why they guess wrong, but its funny at times.  They also think that I´m 24 years old...
 
So things with my companion are fine... for now...   We have disagreements and stuff but I think things are getting better.   My foot still hurts a bit but its fine, so don´t worry. 
 
This week we had our despedida with Pte. Bolívar (when we said goodbye...).  Its sad to see him go.  Both he and his wife said really nice things to me as their last words to me.  He spoke to us for a long time which was way cool.  He taught us something that I really liked.  He was talking about our relationship with Christ.  He said that when we think our relationship is good with Christ, we should step back and look at our lives.  We will probably find that we have problems with our relationships with other people.  Then he said that if we have irrational problems with others, our relationship with Christ is not so good.      I hope that makes sense.  Its hard to translate my spanish thoughts into english...

Not much else to share...  The local soccer team won the national championshìp.  And today we are going to see the grave of Pablo Escobar.
 
Love you all and hope you have a good week!!!
 
Love,
   Corey

Monday, June 13, 2011

6-13-11


Dear Family,
 
This week was interesting... I don´t really know where to start so here goes...
 
My companion is pretty tough to get along with.  I am learning patience right now.  It seems like every other day we have problems or arguments.  He is really taking advantage of his postion of leadership (he is district leader).  He makes sure to remind me how bad the area is and how bad the investigators are and how bad we are.  It is tough to be with such a pessimest (I don´t remember how to spell that word...) but things really are getting better.  
I think that this week President Bolívar is coming to despedirse (I don´t remember that word in english... it means something like to come to say goodbye.)  And Pres. Prince is coming to say hello.  It will be very interesting to see how things go.  The big change happens on July 1st.  They say that it can be pretty chaotic...
 
Yesterday, in church, I talked to a sister from the stake.  She asked me where I was from and I said Salt Lake.  She said that she had trained a sister missionary in her mission in Argentina and that she was from a little city called Centerville!  I was way surprised to hear that so I asked her who it was.  She said Sharla Kjar!  What are the chances?!  So she took a picture of me and is sending it to Sharla, who by the way, is studying in Jerusalem!  That sounds way awesome.
 
I got proposed to again...  That is always an odd experience. 
 
I forgot to tell you all this, but about 2 weeks ago, I got my foot run over by a car.  It hurt pretty bad but I didn´t let it affect my work or anything.  That night, it was all black and purple and swollen.  I´m pretty sure I broke it a little bit.  It´s getting better now, but still hurts a bit.  Just so ya know...
 
Well thats about all...  Love you all and have an awesome week!!

Love,
    Corey

Monday, June 6, 2011

6-6-11


Dear Family,
 
I didn´t get transferred this week.  But my companion did.  And now my life got way harder and my new companion is Elder Tumbaco, who, if you remember from Chinchiná, I already had problems with.  We´ll see how this transfer goes...
 
Yesterday at church, there was a family visiting from Houston.  The parents and 1 or 2 of the kids were born here in Colombia and the other 2 kids were born in the US.  So they all speak english and everything.  They all look Colombian so when they started speaking to me in English I was surprised.  Then I tried to start speaking back, and couldn´t...  I made a fool of my self when I said, ¨I from Utah...¨ And they all laughed...  But it was fun to talk to them.  I never thought I would forget English. 
 
Not a whole lot else happened this week.  I am practicing patience to the extreme, and am struggling.  My companion is one of the very few people I have ever known that just truly make me mad.  I am a little worried about this transfer.   He said that he doesn´t want to keep teaching Nicolás (the blind guy)  or Isabel (the Catholic lady)... so that kind of rubbed me the wrong way.
 
Sorry this is so short but its a holiday here and so I only had like 35 minutes to read and write today.  Thanks for the letters and I will write more next week!  Have a good week!
 
Love,
    Corey