I Can Buy Coke Now!

Hey family!

So I just opened my gifts and I loved them!  I am trying out my alpha smart to see how it works! I hope that I can write longer letters to you guys every week now as well as other people.  My companions all wondered what this thing was.

So the day ended. I am currently writing on this keyboard thingy.

We went and sang hymns at this place in the center of Cali and we wrapped up Books of Mormon and were going it give them to people. We did that but it just happened to be POURING rain. So it was a little hard to aqui estuvo Elder Pizarro. (That was Elder Pizarro. Needless to say my companions like to mess with this as well.) Singing in the rain with our hymn books and also trying to hand out Books of Mormon is not easy. You can’t put anything on the ground because it gets ruined. Nobody really wants to stop for too long so you have to grab them while they are listening! It wasn’t easy but it was so much fun. You see all these people drinking or alone or only looking for other things but the few hymns we sang over and over got some people’s attention.

As for the skype call. It was great to see all of you that I got to see!!! This call was a lot easier than last time. The last one I had a lot less time in the mission and was still learning how to love it. Now, I know how much I can and do enjoy it so it just means we will talk in May and I will be having a great time until then. I got to talk to Brittany and Ty for a little bit which was great. Reese was super busy, but when I did my Scooby Doo laugh and my ruh’ro shaggy voice he definitely heard me!

Kameron also seemed to remember me which was nice. He recognized my voice I think. He got wayyyyy to big though. He is like huge.

I want to thank everyone as well for all the things they did for me this Christmas regardless if it was a gift or a prayer. I am super grateful for everyone and this time we had to help people remember Christ a little bit more.

Shoutout to my pregnant sister and cousins. I am super excited for you guys. I doubt that all of you can hold your babies in for a few extra months but give it a shot.

So we met D in the street on Tuesday and he was very drunk. He started apologizing to us for everything and wanted to just talk to us. He kept putting himself down and talking about how he went to one of the best schools in Cali and now he basically has nothing. I stood and watched my companions talk to him and just tried to listen. I didn’t really know what for but I just didn’t feel like talking at the moment. As Elder Wright was talking, me and D made eye contact and I just couldn’t help but love him so much in that moment regardless of the mistakes and lies he had told us. I gave him a smile and he put his hand out and gave me a hug and told me that there was something different about me. I took that as my sign to talk. I then told him how I had told all of you guys about him and how awesome I thought he was and how great he was. I told him how my Mom would ask about him every week to see how he was and how he was progressing. He couldn’t hold the tears back to hear that. He agreed to let us walk him back to his apartment and we cooked him agua panela (which is a sweet drink here) and I just kept talking to him. We said a prayer and ate bread and this drink. It was a moment I will never forget. Looking around and seeing four missionaries sitting in this tiny house, not teaching, not preaching, but just being there. I remember we took his shoes off and laid him into bed and tucked him in and we shut the lights off and he was already asleep. I don’t know how this story sounds to you guys but it was one of the most powerful moments of my life.

To know that God had sent me there to specifically help him. I can promise you that Elder Wright and Elder Alcorta and Elder Eldredge are all better missionaries than me. For some reason however, God allowed me to be what he needed.

Anyways, this week was good. We had an end of year conference which was super fancy. It was on the 15^th floor of this super nice hotel. It had two levels and there were servers there all day to help us with whatever we needed. They gave us a three course meal. I liked half of it. You could tell it was super expensive because the appetizer had gross weeds on it. We watched Meet the Mormons which I had not seen (he has seen it, he just doesn't remember). It is a good movie. Now I know the Mormons. We played Jeopardy and since the office made the questions we were judges for all the zones. My zone did not win.  We had a great time and there was something amazing that President Whitesides changed this conference….WE CAN BUY COKE NOW!! For those of you that are wondering which coke because I am in Colombia I mean Coca’cola.

 Also, Elder Alcorta and Elder Pizarro would like a CTR ring like the one I have. Here in South America they cant go to Desseret Book and buy one. Please if you could I would appreciate it. A size 8 and a size 9.5!! 

That was pretty much my week! Love you guys!! Stay strong!

Con Amor,