Week Seventy Six

[ No letter this week, but some messaging. ]

This is in Cucuta.
This is the lady who told me she's known me since I was born haha.

This week we went to Duitama.
It's a city in the middle of huge farmland.
Pretty cold.

It was my first zone.
Barbosa is part of it.

But it was super cool.

Our Mission Pres. got sick in the middle of the conference.
My comp and I had to take over.
We just had to finish his training and keep the show running.

FB fights are so useless.
I still stand by that nobody has ever changed there mind because of a FB fight.
Have they?
I don't think I'll ever return to social media.
But I know it will be unavoidable.

Week Seventy Five

I’m just gonna send my weekly report via messaging because I have tons of photos.

First I’ll send some pics from Suba that I never sent.

Elder Richey in Jordan (pretty much Syria)

With Oscar

Saying goodbye to the Garcon family

Saying goodbye to my mission leader. I love this dude!

Saying goodbye to Libia.

Doing transfers first night.

Okay here are some photos form this week:

SPLITS WITH ELDER ZUÑIGA

He’s from Mexico City and is Elder Porras' cousin haha.
The pic above is with riot control.
There is a super liberal university right in front of mission offices.
Riots on the daily.

Surprise service:
We cleaned this dude’s truck

We also got drenched.

I also had splits with Elder Hildebrandt.

This is him.
He is from Peru.

P.S. — Here is a pic of my inventory with Elder Zuñiga.
I normally hate inventory but lately it’s been pretty cool.
I like asking missionaries about their life plans.

A pic of my inventory with Hildebrandt.
I also had splits with Elder Navas this week.

This is Elder Navas.
He is Colombian.
Raised in Honduras.
Also lived in the states for awhile.

There is a huge private school right in front of our house.
Their marching band was practicing.
We watched for a bit haha.

Inca Kola is a soda from Peru.
Here are some pics of us trying it.

Elder Mooney.

My comp Elder Vieira.

Navas.

Me.

This pic is from lunch yesterday.
The dude next to me makes gold bars for a living.

P-day today with best friend Elder Vincent.

Saying goodbye to Elder Wright.

Leaving Bogota at 4am.

Parque Jaime Duque.

This tourism park honoring a pilot named Jaime Duque.

The week was awesome though.
I was talking with a dude in my ward named Jorge Trujillo (this huge rugby player) about nanoengineering. He told me about a Colombian named Rodolfo Llinás who is developing nanobubbles of water to cure Alzheimers.

Lots of really interesting people in my ward.

This week we are going to Boyaca.
Cold farmland.
There are still witches in Boyacá.
Super superstitious.

Sunday night we have a meeting with Pres. & Sis. Laney.
They are the best.
We just brainstorm ways to improve the mission.

I bought a suit today.
I felt so grownup!!!!!!!!!!
It was 80 bucks.
Is that good?
I ripped one suit and the other got worn out.

Everyone in my MTC group says I’ve gotten taller but I think I’m pretty much the same.

No one in Colombian cares about the Olympics. Just the World Cup.

Week Seventy Four

Hey Family. How are you guys?

This week was sweet.

Week was super busy. I am writing you guys from Cúcuta. I can see Venezuela from where we're at. By my side is Elder Mooney one of my best friends from the MTC.

We flew into Cúcuta this morning.

Every Sunday night is sweet. We meet with President Laney and talk about everything going down, and then after, we all eat chocolate chip cookies and milk. It's cool. Always casual. Pres. Laney asked my comp and I to share something we have learned recently from the BOM.

P.S. I wrote Elder Porras this week. He and his wife Nadia INVITED ME TO EAT TACOS WITH THEM IN MEXICO. He just moved back to DF Mexico City.

We had the MTC activity. I was with Elder Allred and Elder Turner. They are both going to the Medellin mission. It was crazy being with them. I realized how behind I was on music. They kept telling me about Brockhampton. Really fun day with them though. I took them to the mountains and we found this crazy rich neighborhood with the biggest houses in Bogota.

Sidenote: We walked by the temple and the Barbosa branch (my first area) was there. SO CRAZY seeing all of them.

We have splits with all the Zone Leaders of the mission. This week we had them with the ZLs from Barranca (the hottest part of the mission). I was with Elder Hernandez. He's this dude from Peru who converted his entire family.

We had 2 multizone conferences this week. My comp and I gave a training on using time wisely. We start the training by pretending we arent prepared and then SURPRISE we are prepared.

We also had a leadershipconference and my comp and I gave a training about reaching potential. soooooo deeeeep.

My comp is crazy. Elder Vieira is 25, from Brazil, and always makes cat noises.

P.S. — Today an old lady touched my face and told me she's known me since i was born.

Also Pres. Laney's wife is super sick so #prayforHermanaLaney.

Love you guys,

Elder Blair

DENVER WATCH OUT FOR YOUR BOY

Week Seventy Three

What is happening fam??? Sounds like everybody is doing sweet stuff.

This week was way packed.

So last weekend was transfers. Elder Patterson (the last AP) gave me his keys and his phone (touchscreen #yesss) and all his problems. Pres. Laney sent us the transfers (who's going with who and where). We go through and make sure nobody's already been comps with each other. Then we send it back with any corrections and we keep going till we get it. We were in mission offices till 2am like zombies working out logistics.

This week we picked up the new batch of missionaries from the MTC. So much fun. We had to train them for 4 hours while Pres. Laney did their interviews. The new missionaries are crazy.

We finished the calendar for the transfer and made agendas for all the multi zone conferences. Way more computer than I'm used to. My eyes are always burning at the end of the day....

All moving all the crap Excel mission reports to google drive. #TEAMGOOGLEDRIVE

On Saturday we had p-day and I took everybody to the indigenous tribe in Cota way out in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how I remembered the way lol. But we lucked out because the tribe leader "El Abuelo" was there. He preached to us about mother nature for an hour and then I gave him a CTR ring jaja.

Our ward is crazy. Only old people. Tons of the pioneers of the church here. The dude who does the voice of Heavenly Father in the temple is in my ward too lol.

It kind of sucks because we have 0 time in our area. I can count our investigators on 1 hand. Definitely not what I'm used to. Yesterday we finally got some time to get work in. We got lucky and knocked on a door of a family that let us in 1st try.

Also a lady named Victoria from Texas is our main investigator. So weird having a gringa investigator. She's awesome though. She just showed up to church one Sunday and told the missionaries she wants to change her life.

Love the Laneys. They are a powercouple. They make everybody in the mission feel important.

My comp Elder Vieira is also a powerhouse. Hes a pubro at helping improve wards. For example, he showed up to Zona Suba and started a weekly ward FHE.

Yeah things are going super good. Missing you guys always though.

Love
Elder Blair

Ecclesiastes 2:17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Week Seventy Two

Instead of an email, got a message from Ralph today:

it’s insane, mom

got emergency transferred

mom, guess where i am now?

lol i got called as assistant to pres

now i’m in mission offices



yeah when they called me i was so bummed

having to leave everybody

i was counting on 5 months there

the APs called me thursday morn

i think or friday

so i had to pack my bags

we cabbed to their house

across town 30min


and this weekend was transfers

so we have been working crazy on transfers


my new comp is elder vieira

he’s from brasil

he’s the only member

he’s dope

Week Seventy One

Hey family,

This week was super cool, also super hard.

I told you guys about Cesar Martinez. He has become our best friend. We have been waking up extra early to go out and jog with him. Then we go back and eat breakfast with him. (EXTRA BONUS) He has an accordion in his house.

We had a contacting activity in the farm town Cota. One lady thought we were robbers and called the cops on us lolol.

I don't know. I think this has been my favorite transfer so far. I feel like I'm in my home ward.

Some other people in our area:

Perez Family. A young couple with 3 crazy sons. They had a family new year's resolution to find a new church to go to LOL. They came for the first time this week. We rolled up to Sacrament Meeting late with them. Felt pretty sweet to burst though the door. Bishop Romero flashed us a smile.

Cipriano and Melisa. We contacted them on the street last week. It's Father and Daughter. Cipriano's wife died a year ago and he went into depression. We had a really cool lesson with them

I feel deeper connections with people here. I am trying to improve on integrity. Like trying to be aware of my intentions. It's pretty sad realizing how often my intentions are stupid.

Lovin life though.

Miss you guys
Elder Blair


P.S. — You guys are about to drown in pics:

with my district at Don Alfonso Velasquez house (called the baticueva)

jazlin and Alan Huffington (my best friend here)

with a campesina

best christmas ever

osvaldo bracho reyes

with my mtc elders

with Elder Patterson

FHE ROLL UPPPPP

eLDER oLIVEIRA Sau Paulo

MY BROTHAS FROM MARACAIBO

MY BROTHA HECTOR

LINA GARZON

police flirting lol

FHE

ELDER DIAS

Sorry for not sending photos in forever.

Week Seventy

This week was awesome.

Alan Huffington is in my ward. Elder Vincent and I contacted him last June. He got baptized like 2 weeks after I left Suba to Bucaramanga. Alan is from NY and is my best friend in Suba. Used to be a thug and has crazy scars from when he's been stabbed. He is good at praying too.

Adriana Chaparro got baptized. Adriana is a powerhouse. She's a crazy cat lady but she is dope. Her Mom is hospitalized way on the other side of Bogota (like 2-3 hour journey) and she visits her like 4 times a week. She always says, "don't worry be happy." We had a good baptismal service with Alan Huffington directing it. Elder Richey's first baptism.

Rained a lot this week. Lots of dirt roads in our area so it's very muddy.

Had fun intercambios with Elder Oliveira. We had an unexpected service opportunity, helping unload wood planks from a truck and carrying them up to a roof where this family is building a dog house. We both had tons of splinters after the service. We also played soccer with this grandpa and his grandkids on the street.

Visited our Bishop this week. Obispo Romero. He is from Barraquilla (where Shakira is from) and served his mission in la Paz Bolivia. At one point in his mission, his whole zone had to flee to Brazil for political unrest. Bishop is super cool though, helps us a lot. During priesthood he gets all the men to give us their hours of when they can do visits with us.

Good district meeting this week. I had Elder Oliveira give a training on the fall of Adam and Eve. Then we all shared our favorite scriptures.

Our house is fun. Elder Thompson and Elder Dias are the other elders who live with us. They are the zone leaders. Elder Dias is addicted to Jet chocolate. Elder Thompson always finds something cool to do on p-day. Today we went to the Bogota Botanical Garden. Super well designed. One of the best places in Bogota.

Another friend here is named Jesus. He was in the Bogota MTC, getting ready to serve in the Venezuela Maracaibo mission. When he finished the mtc, they went to the airport and he took a cab and ditched the mission. Now he lives in my zone lol.

Ill end the week letter with a scripture:

Genesis 24:67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Love you guys and miss you

Elder Blair