Week 23
Dear Everyone,
Well, there’s a few important things that I feel that I need to update you on while I remember them because I’ve forgotten to email you about this the last few weeks. For starters, I’m in an area called Aguazul (I know I’ve already sent that part, but just as a refresher) that is about 1 hour away from the nearest biggest city named Yopal. It has about 25,000 people and our apartment is at the base of the only mountain in about 25-30 km. Other than that, it’s just plains, jungle, and a large river called Río Únete. I haven’t been near the river at all, but apparently there have been baptisms done in the river.
The point about the river brings me to the four next huge points that I have forgotten to mention in my other emails:
1.) We are the ONLY area in our mission that doesn’t have to walk because we’re the only ones that have bicycles in our area. Because of that, the 33 degree humidity is BEARABLE when we ride, but other than that, there’s nothing that we can really do about it.
2.) In our apartment, we lack a ventilation system. The best thing that we have are two floor fans and one of them is only semi-functional. When I say semi-functional, I mean that in order to get it started, we have to spin it with our hands a few times before we can get the motor running.
3.) Due to the lack of infrastructure in Colombia (like in Tocancipa) we may not have water at times. Elder Castro and a few members of the branch here have stated that there may not be water for WEEKS at a time, which is the main reason that the past Elders have had to do baptisms in the river. To further aggravate the situation, the water that they DO supply is treated, but not always clean. Basically what they do is clean it in the water station, but don0t have filters or any other stations along the way, so it’s pretty easy to contaminate the water here. Because of that, although we have running water, we aren’t supposed to drink it.
4.) Because we’re near a river, there are mosquitoes. This being one of the VERY few areas in Bogota Norte that actually has them. Although I’ve yet to SEE them, when I wake up in the mornings I can feel them with the newly gained bug bites that I have all over my arms and back. Even worse, a few of the other Elders who have served here previously have contracted Dengue from the mosquitoes, so I’m praying and hoping for the best that I don’t contract Dengue in ANY form and also hope that while I’m here, I won’t lose water for longer than 3 days.
Well, there’s a nice update to tell you about Aguazul. It’s a GREAT area. The people are friendly, and there is already another Gringo here who is learning Spanish through a language program (I forgot what it’s called) and is from Boulder, Colorado. His name is Evan and he’s 29 years old. I met him when I went to a local college to help with their “English Day.” We have about 3 investigators that are professors here. When we went, we had a good day and lots of food. The students received us well and were very friendly. The main reason I was there was because two of the professors that we know are our investigators and they wanted us to be judges for them. Unfortunately, it was very early and we spent most of the day (from 7 am to 1 pm) judging them.
Right now, we’re working A LOT with the less actives here, because the branch only has about 40% attendance right now. There are close to 80 members that live in Aguazul, but only 30 attend sacrament meeting on a regular basis. When I got here, my first thought was how to better this area. So far, we’re having great success, in fact, there is one family of less actives that wants to go to church, but each Sunday since we have gotten them excited to go, an emergency has come up. Yesterday she went to the hospital because her daughter had a severe case of tonsilitis. Today, we went to talk to her again and we ended up fixing up the motorcycle of her nephew. The whole family (minus the father and the son who live separate from her), want to receive the lessons. Only Marilu is less active, but her brother and his kids want to receive the gospel in their lives. Also, his two sons have girlfriends who also want to listen.
Well, that about sums up the cool juicy parts of my life as of now in Aguazul. I hope to hear from everyone soon! I love you and I’ll talk to you all later!
With love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 22
Dear Everyone,
Well, the only reason I remember it’s week 22 is because I just counted how many area books I’ve gone through. It’s a bit surprising to know that’s what I have to do now to know how long I’ve been in the mission.
Anyways, first things first. I am currently in Aguazul, and Las Vegas is (believe it or not) reaching out to me still here in (basically) the middle of nowhere. We’re about an hour away from the nearest major bus terminal which is about 7.5 hours away from Bogota, but there is a member here named Liliana Porciani who was taught by an LDS missionary when she was in her teenage years by the name of Elder Owens who was from Las Vegas and is currently serving in the Police she told me. I have NO idea who that might be… =P -_- =)
Anyways, Aguazul is the COMPLETE opposite of Tocancipa. It was about 14 degrees there, always cloudy, rained almost every day, and was extremely dry. Here in Aguazul, it’s 33 degrees all day, only partly cloudy most of the time, and it’s HUMID HUMID HUMID. There is no way you can come here without sweating. And as I’m talking about opposites, it’s not just with the weather and the city, but also with the ward/branch we have here. In Tocancipa, there was a lot of people as well as a lot of youth and support from the ward, to the point where the missionaries had their freedom to work as much as we wanted or needed. Here in Aguazul, we aren’t officially recognized as a stake or district, so the “stake president” is actually our mission leader. We had ward conference yesterday so he and his first counselor came down to conduct and do their business stuff. In addition, there’s only about 30 members who attend each week, so Elder Castro and I are unofficially the second counselor of the Presidente del rama aca. Entonces, cuando el hizo visitas jueves, Elder Castro y yo fuimos con el como un hora de Aguazul por carro para visitar las familias quien viven MUY MUY MUY lejos. Tambien, damos los asignaciones para hacer discursos cada semana a los miembros de la rama y damos institute once a week for our only student who was ust ordained an Elder yesterday and is most likely going to be the new segundo consejero ahora.
This last week was a bit hectic, but it was a bit fun nontheless. Although there are many differences between Tocancipa and Aguazul, we also have a lot in common. The people in this area are just as friendly and WILLING to help (although it’s a bit difficult because there’s so few) and also we have A LOT of work to do. We have about 15 or 16 investgators/families who live within a 3 block radius of us and even more inactivos o menos activos quien viven muy cerca. I look forward to the work that we have to do here, but it’s going to be REALLY difficult because I have no idea (right now) what’s been taught, who’s been taught what, and who is an investigator or who is a less active. Besides that, the area book is a LITTLE behind because apparently we don’t have our star investigator in it AT ALL. He’s COMPLETELY incognito or missing. I have a buttload of pictures that I want to send, but I can’t send them this week because falto la cosa para leer mi memoria. I love you all and I’ll update you with much cooler stuff when cooler stuff happens this next week.
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 21
Dear Everyone,
Well, it’s true what they say about the time in the mission (I don’t really know how time is going for all of you guys back home, but at least for me it’s true…) that a day feels like a month, but the months feel like days. I can’t believe that I’ve already been out for almost 6 months.
This week is a bit hectic for me as it’s my first transfer. Apparently, I’m going to be going from 14 degree weather (Celcius[side note for my American friends]) to 35 degree weather in less than 8 hours. I’m a bit sad that I have to leave my area, but the good news is that I was prepared a few days beforehand. About 3 days before we got the call that said I was going from Tocancipa to Aguazul, I had the STRONG prompting that I was going to leave (as well as a bit of depression that followed because I knew it was true), but hey, what will be will be as long as I’m doing what I should.
So this final week I had in our area was one of my most favorites and least favorites at the same time. Everyone in the ward could sense that it was time for transfers, but no one wanted to say anything and pretended that all was well. Everyone was a bit annoyed, sad, and irritable this past Sunday, but when they talked with us, it was apparent they could sense what we were sensing. It’s amazing to know that no matter where I go, the missionaries (good and bad) are the most loved people in the ward. Knowing that, it’s a huge burden to keep the trust and confidence between the missionaries to keep that bond between everyone there.
This week we had two baptisms. Dolores and Magda (Martha in previous emails) received their covenants in the waters of baptism. We were REALLY late in performing the ordinance (we said that it would be at 6, but we didn’t start until about 7:30 because the pila bautismal fue MUY sucio, entonces necesitábamos limpiarla antes el bautismo). También estábamos muy tarde porque hablábamos con Magda en uno de los cuartas para prepararla antes ser bautizado. We went in with 5 people (Jose, the bishop, us two Elders, Brajhan, and Magda) and we were talking for about half an hour while the font was being filled one to prepare her (like I was saying) and the other to do what we talked about last week.
When the time came to use our priesthood to cast out the evil spirit, it was really funny because no one wanted to do it. Elder Lara turned to me, asked me if I could do it, but I was too new and I didn’t know the words I should say, so I had to decline. So then, he turned to the bishop to ask him to do it, but he turned it back to Elder Lara because (in his own words) “Ella es su investigador, entonces, hasta que reciba los aguas de bautismo, no tengo ni autoridad para hacer algo.” Then Elder Lara looked at Jose (who immediately shook his head “no” before he even asked him) before doing the ordinance himself. We didn’t see an IMMEDIATE change, but when we watched her to see what would happen, we saw a look of relief come over her face. The next day (the Sunday in which I talked about a few paragraphs ago) we could see a slight improvement in how she interacted with people as well as we could see more lucidity in what she did. Just yesterday, before I left, she was cooking lunch for herself and was wearing matching clothes (without Dolores having to help her). So, although we weren’t able to see a MAJOR change in the 30 seconds after, Elder Lara and I feel that she’ll be returning to normal gradually, which makes sense if she really did have problems for 14 years or so.
The horrid part of this week was that we are most likely going to have to release our ward mission leader, Jose, because he’s fighting with his parents and the bishop over his newly formed relationship with a young woman in the ward. The weird part is that he’s bringing the argument and those feelings to the missionary work (which has forced Elder Lara to talk about Mafe as well and why he needs to focus and prepare for his mission and the mission in Tocancipa). He got super pissed off and yelled at us for about 3 hours, so the bishop is thinking about releasing him and placing Camilo in as ward mission leader (which isn’t much better because he’s never at church or at home, so it’s difficult to talk to him).
Also, we were at the Angarita Max’s house last night trying to repair the relationship between Brajhan and his mom. Things are EXTREMELY horrible between them. When Brajhan got home, he didn’t talk to his mom at all like we asked him to, but instead went straight to his bed and wouldn’t talk to anyone. We went up and talked with him for about half an hour before he got up out of bed, YELLED at his mom (who tried to talk with him before we went up to talk to him), and then went to bed without even listening or talking to us. He seemed a LITTLE bit happier this morning when he came to our appointment to read with us, but when we talked to his mom on the phone after he left, nothing had really changed. I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried to be the best example that I can, but when our two star youth in the ward are yelling and not listening to anyone, it’s hard to help them live happier or be more successful in life like they say they want to be.
I’m a bit nervous about Aguazul for two reasons: one, apparently we have a double transfer going on there and, two, it’s tierra caliente con un gente con la personalidad de un tierra frió (cual es muy diferente que Tocancipa, porque es un tierra frió con un personalidad de gente de tierra caliente).
Anyways, I hope all is well and I love you all. Please email me back. I’m about to start erasing emails and cleaning up my inbox a bit, so unless I have received emails from you guys in the past month, you’ll still hear from me. If not, well, you know what my email address is and I’m still here.
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 20
So, this week was a bit hectic as we now (unofficially) have 3 Elders in Tocancipa. It’s not the MOST fun I’ve had, but it’s definitely interesting because the third “missionary” is one of the youth in our ward. In fact, today, we’re going to Bogota with him and his family because he asked us to be present in his patriarchal blessing. It’s been a lot of fun working with him, training him, and talking with him, but it’s a bit strange because it feels like Elder Lara works more with him rather than with me. Whenever we do splits, Elder Lara always puts me with the ward mission leader and he always goes off with Brajhan. When he DOES go off with Brajhan, he goes with him to the investigators who are most receptive and ready while Jose and I end up with the turtle paced or luke-warm investigators. I tried to bring up this point to Elder Lara when I asked to go to a certain investigator with Jose, but he said it was alright and took the appointment for himself and Brajhan anyways.
Other than the fact that I had a bit of trouble with teaching lessons to receptive people this week, everything is okay. We have 6 people with a baptismal date. Martha and Dolores Gomez are having their baptismal interview this week as well as (POSSIBLY) Shirley and Steven Patiño Santiago, but it all depends on the husband and the marriage papers. The other two investigators who have a baptismal date are new, but their names are William Diaz and Jorge Eliezer Diaz. We found them this past week, and after the first lesson with both of them, we put down a date for their baptisms. I wasn’t present for the baptismal date with Jorge because Elder Lara and Brajhan did that, but all 3 of us were present for William.
We haven’t really had time these past two weeks to write because our P-Days have been a bit in reverse (work from 10 hours and do our laundry and clean the house) but it’s been worth it for the work we’ve accomplished. I don’t know why, but I can’t help but feeling like it’s about time for me to leave Tocancipa. As much as I DON’T want to because of the people in the ward and the people here I love, it feels like there’s nothing much else to learn here or any way for me to grow spiritually. If it happens, I’ve come to accept it, but if not, that’s even better.
Anyways, to sum up my week a bit MORE in detail, this past P-Day we went to the mountain with Brajhan near Tocancipa. We actually climbed up to the THIRD mountain of the series of three (It looks to be about 1,000 feet higher than Tocancipa) and saw ALL of our area as well as Zipaquira. Our area is HUMONGOUS and I can now see why our work is ONLY focused in Tocancipa. It’s basically the only “big” city in our area for about 50 miles. It’s a great little town, but it’s a bit strange in the fact that it is a mining site. We passed by about 30 salt mines on our way to the top of the mountain, and also, we got to see the military base from above where we were. As much as I enjoyed the hike, I couldn’t help but think about the possiblity of being abducted by Guerrillas because we were so far from civilization and also because it was REALLY jungled. I’m a bit annoyed with my companion at the moment, but if I transfer, I know that they won’t white-wash Tocancipa because of all the progress we’re making right now, so I’m going to wait one more week before I hit him really hard for cutting short my P-Days to write home every week.
To answer your questions: No, there’s no Walmart nearby. I haven’t grown at all. I did receive everything in the package that you guys sent me.
Anyways, I love you all and talk to you later!
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 19
Dear Everyone,
During our Gospel essencials class, we had the topic of Priesthood this week. As a result, we got on the topic of priesthood blessings as well as the power of the priesthood. As we were talking about miracles in the New Testament that Jesus did while he was on the earth (with the priesthood) and how he cast out devils, we finally heard the whole story from Dolores (the mother of Martha) about how the situation started with Martha.
It turns out that when Martha was a teenager, that she and a group of friends used a Ouijia board in the house without Dolores knowing (until afterwards). It was SHORTLY after that Martha started acting strange and saying weird things. That’s when Dolores took her to the medical professionals and they diagnosed her with schizophrenia. Dolores believed it to be a physical manifestation of the devil or one of his angels, so she asked for a blessing for Martha. We took all the proper steps, and then we gave Martha a priesthood blessing. Elder Lara told me afterwards that he didn’t remember a thing that he said, but in the blessing, the Lord blessed Martha through Elder Lara with “the power to fight the evil in your body” as well as talked A LOT about repentance.
Anyways, the rest of our week was pretty crazy as well. We went to a public function at the local colegio because they had an “English Day” and they found out that there is a gringo who lives just outside their front door. As a result, they asked me to be present in front of all the professors and the colegio to show my abilities to talk English. In this opportunity, we also had the chance to help Brajhan Angarita Max. He is one of the youth in the ward who is going through a REALLY hard time in his life right now. His father died of Lupus and he is the only boy in the house. He’s the third of 5 and the whole family is fighting a lot. Elder Lara and I took him under our wing this week, and also we are helping the family a lot. In just 3 or 4 days, we were able to see a HUGE improvement among them. As well as the improvement we’re seeing among the family, we’re also seeing a huge improvement in Brajhan.
He helped us A LOT yesterday while we were talking with a family that was just recently reactivated, the Velandias. We’ve been training him to be a missionary, and he has been doing amazingly well. In fact, yesterday, while we were discussing something with Hermana Velandia about her son, Brajhan was talking to him and we saw a HUGE change in how he treated his mom from before the discussion. After ALL the four discussions we had with the family, we were able to find out a problem as well as get the family to try staying together with Omar again (as they’re in the middle of filling out their papers for divorce).
He helped us A LOT yesterday while we were talking with a family that was just recently reactivated, the Velandias. We’ve been training him to be a missionary, and he has been doing amazingly well. In fact, yesterday, while we were discussing something with Hermana Velandia about her son, Brajhan was talking to him and we saw a HUGE change in how he treated his mom from before the discussion. After ALL the four discussions we had with the family, we were able to find out a problem as well as get the family to try staying together with Omar again (as they’re in the middle of filling out their papers for divorce).
The week was amazing and I love you all. I hope to talk more this upcoming Monday. I wasn’t really able to write this week, but I FOR SURE will write you all a better report this week Monday. The reason why I didn’t was because we were up in the mountains with Brajhan all day Monday, so we didn’t get the chance to write at all. I love you, and talk to you in 4 days!
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 17
Dear Everyone,
Wow, time flies a bit too fast down here. Anyways…
This week was a bit slow, but it was good nonetheless. We are having problems with the young men in this church down here, so it was a bit frustrating when we went to church yesterday and there wasn’t ONE young man there. We ended up making house calls virtually all of the three hours of church, but it was worth it. There is one young man in particular who reminds me of me when I was his age. His name is Brajhan Max and he is 15 (almost 16) years old. In the first picture, it’s him with one of the hermanas in the ward, Hermana Velandia, who is had her 38th birthday today.
Brajhan lives with his mom and 3 sisters. He is the second child and he is a bit lazy/doesn’t like to attend church unless he is taken there. He is kind of moody, but that’s kind of what I expect because his dad died a few years back due to a disease that no one knew he had called Lupus (and, according to House, it’s never lupus…;D). Now, the whole family is a bit worried because the children might have this disease, but they won’t be able to know until they each turn 25 (I have no idea why, but that’s what they said). Also, being the only guy in a house full of girls, well, that’s pretty hard. Also. the kids in the ward don’t really hang out together or really invite one another to do anything at all, so there’s not really a friendship between any of the young men in the ward.
This week, also, we have 4 new baptismal dates. One is the mother of the Garzon family. I was SUPER happy to hear her say yes, and this time, I think that we can do it! We set the date for 4 Nov, but our main problem is getting her to attend sacrament meetings because she is a health care professional (an epidemiologist, basically) and almost always works on Sundays. Also, she is in the middle of a HUGE report that is driving her and the rest of her family insane because of how many papers that she has to fill out and how many house visits she has to do every day. It’s a bit frustrating to us too because of how difficult it is to work with her schedule.
Two other dates are for a family who lives just 3 doors down from a recent convert, Graciela. Her name is Dolores and she has a 30-something year old daughter living with her. This daughter, named Martha, has schizophrenia! When we first met her, it was kind of a shock to learn this, but it has been a great adventure up until now. They are EXTREMELY Catholic, but they are really accepting of the gospel. We need to have Dolores talk with Graciela a bit more, but I think that she will do great once she lets go of the religion of her parents and accepts the gospel FULLY in her life.
And the final baptismal date is actually two, but we’re putting one for right now because of the fact that the parents aren’t married. We challenged Steven Santiago Patiño to be baptized as well as his mom, Shirley. We’re anxious to see how it’ll turn out, but we think all will go well because of the fact that she has a REALLY strong testimony of the Gospel and we have seen so many changes in her life and how she is reacting to situations differently that before.
Anyways, that’s my week in a nutshell. I wish I had more to tell, but the only thing I can think of is that this Wednesday, we had Brajhan be a missionary with us for the WHOLE day (placard and all! I’m surprised that he had an actual placard that said “Futuro Misionero”). It went great and we found 2 new potential investigators, we have an appointment with one of them today, and the other is a bit difficult to get a hold of since he works every day of the week except Sundays.
Anyways, I love you all. I hope all is well with you. I guess that I’ll talk to you all next week! =)
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 16
Dear Everyone,
Well, I will definitely say that I have had a “one-of-a-kind” week this week. This week, we found 7 new investigators (well, 2 of them found us), and of them, only 7 of ALL of our 25 investigators attended general conference in the chapel this weekend. I was kind of disappointed that nobody really attended because I could find a message that would have helped just about EVERY one of them.
Of our 7 new investigators, the two that found us are antiguos investigadores. Her name is Jessica Jimenez and she’s 19 years old. The other is her novio who is about 22, but he’s COMPLETELY new. I’m not sure why Jessica REstarted investigating the church, but the reason why she stopped (she said) is because the old missionaries that were teaching her were TOO focused on baptism and it kind of scared her away and she didn’t really want to deal with that. This past Sunday, we taught about the restoration to her and him. They both seemed pretty accepting of it. He was more accepting of it than her. What Elder Lara and I think is that he’ll help Jessica move along faster this time, but then that same night I realized that Jessica might hold him back… So, I’m HOPING that it’s the first.
Two more of our investigators are EXTREMELY interesting. This is what makes my week so special. We found a woman by the name of Dolores who lives with two of her grandchildren and her daughter who is 22 years old. Her daughter, who’s name is Maria, has schizophrenia. I’m not quite sure HOW to approach the situation, so we’re trying to focus AROUND Maria so that we can teach Dolores. She lives in the same neighborhood as a recent convert, Graciela Muñoz. She was my first baptism and she is EXTREMELY eager to help us teach Dolores and Maria.
Also this week, we found 2 other investigators. One is Omar and the other is his wife. He’s not SUPER interested in the gospel (so it seems) but he’s taking the lessons and he’s asking some questions. He’s SUPER quiet and we’ve only had 2 appointments with him, but he seems like a pretty cool guy. His wife was busy taking care of their new 2-month old baby, but she listened to our lesson in and out.
Our final new investigator this week is actually the daughter-in-law of Graciela, Sandra. Sandra lives with Graciela and her son, who is her husband, Miguel. She is super interested in the Gospel because she has seen the change that it has made in the life of Graciela and also she is concerned for her son Nicholas. The main concern and problem that we have to deal with when we teach Sandra though is that Miguel doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with the Gospel right now. In addition, Graciela and Sandra (more Graciela) have both expressed the fact that Miguel is an abusive spouse. He yells quite a bit and also has hit Sandra more than once. Graciela tries to step in where appropriate, but it still happens a lot they say. So, we aren’t really sure how to handle this situation either. Graciela has expressed a DEEP desire to have Miguel take the lessons, but he doesn’t want to right now and in fact tries to completely avoid us every time that we come over. What would you recommend doing?
So, this week is much better. I guess all I needed was just a bit more time to adjust to Elder Lara. I think what had me in a really ad mood was the fact that we had 4 missionaries living in a 2-person house. Also, the unexpected transfer just didn’t sit well with me for the first few days. Now that Elder Busch and Elder Brito are out in Sesquile though and I’ve had time to adjust to the transfer, Elder Lara and I are great friends. We’re working REALLY hard and we’re doing about twice the work that Elder Lopez and I did. It’s a great feeling to work hard and also a great time to have him here in Tocancipa. I will admit that he is a bit strange though. When we talk about random things, he speaks normally, but when he talks about the gospel in ANY form, his voice changes to one of those voices that you would hear on a church video. It’s kind of funny, but I think it’s just out of habit, so I don’t say anything. If anything, it helps keep me awake during the harder lessons to teach.
Anyways, all is great this week. I hope all is well and I will talk to you next week!
With love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 15
Dear Everyone,
So, I will admit that the transfers were a bit unexpected, but I am starting to adjust already.
This past week went okay, but Elder Lopez was acting a bit trunkie out here. I’m hoping that the transfers are doing him well. With Elder Lara, it’s a bit difficult to adjust to him and his style of teaching, but I think I can handle it. He is more adjusted for a “tierra caliente” type of people rather than the people down here (that’s obvious from the styles of teaching that Elder Lopez developed as well as the others in this zone have developed). I’m much more used to talking with people and discussing what we should talk about. Elder Lara’s style of teaching is different in the fact that he uses A LOT of videos which is kind of frustrating to me only because I never learned how to teach with videos AS WELL AS that I am not really that well adjusted to using videos much except to give a more visual picture of what we taught in the previous lessons. Elder Lara uses videos as the main point of his lessons and ties them in somehow that I don’t usually understand.
So, as everyone is asking, the UNDERSTANDING is great! The speaking… no. I love the people here, and I have a feeling that I’m only going to be here one more transfer because minimum the Elders that come out here are here for 3 months, but also because I’m starting to get REALLY attached to the people here… which is both good and bad. The work has picked up again… triple-fold. I love it! I just wish that my companion would stop looking JUST for gold and go for some of the silver investigators as well. He’s kind of skipping over some of our other investigators to make a “whole new area.”
Anyways, tonight we’re going on divisions. I’m thinking that tonight is going to be the last time that I teach the Cardena Arocas. As much as I love them, the past several times that I visited them, they were too busy to talk to us, so we ended up just sitting there while they did everything else besides listen and talk to us. As much as I love them, they don’t seem to be as ready to take the 1 hour of time out of their schedules to listen to us and draw closer to Christ. If they DO listen and take the time to listen, I will gladly visit them again. They always do their assignments, but it’s the progression of understanding the gospel more that they’re not getting.
Another family that we dropped (finally, thank goodness) is the Suarez family. I was ready to drop them LAST week with Elder Lopez, but he said one more week. They just weren’t doing ANYTHING. They only invited us over to talk it felt like. They never read the lecturas that we left them, they NEVER attempted to go to church, they always asked the most random questions that had NOTHING to do with what we were teaching them, and it was just difficult to feel the Spirit there at all when we taught them… Maybe another time in their lives, but definitely not now.
There’s another family that Elder Lara WANTS to drop, but I’m not going to let him yet. The family Garzons that we talked about today in the offices (the one that has the daughter and the 2 sons) are EXTREMELY close to getting baptized. RIGHT before Elder Lara came into this area, we had taught them the law of chastity. I was hoping (if Elder Lopez were still here this week) that we could help them all with the Word of Wisdom. The main problem is that Jorge (the son) has a smoking problem. The reason he has a smoking problem is because he has a nervous system problem. When he smokes, he doesn’t shake as much. Therefore, he has the dependency on cigarettes because of that. They have been investigating the church just under a month and they always do what we assign for them. It’s extremely difficult to get ALL the family together at once because Christian and Jorge are in university in Bogota while the mother works in medicine (health prevention).
The main reason I’m not going to let Elder Lara drop them yet is because he has decided to start REteaching the Gutierrez family. They are a family of investigators that have been “waiting for their marriage papers” but in reality is that the husband doesn’t want to get married. They have been investigating the church for about 5 months and are basically members but with a few doubts still. The two children and Maria Eugenia are WILLING to get baptized, but Maria Eugenia will only get baptized if her husband is also. This is one of the main problems. The other main problem is that even after 5 MONTHS of investigating, the father (I forgot his name) doesn’t believe in the Restoration or The Book of Mormon. This family (as apparent with what their LDS neighbors said) is most likely going to be “eternal investigators.” I love them all to death, but if Elder Lara is going to have his family of “eternal investigators,” then I want to have mine (who really aren’t that eternal, we just need to re-extend the invitation to baptism).
This is my only quarrel that I really have, but other than that, everything is just cheery. I’m having a great time with Elder Lara, I just need a few days to adjust to his teaching style and also I need to work out our schedule so that we don’t need to do splits every day.
Anyways, I hope all is well with you and I hope that you have a great week. Until next week!
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 14
Dear Everyone,
Whew! So, this week has been REALLY stressful and hectic for me. First of all because there is a celebration going on in Tocancipa to celebrate it’s 149th birthday and second because tomorrow we’re having transfers. Unfortunately, Elder Lopez is not going to finish training me because he’s going out to Bucarica with our district leader, Elder Pluid. In addition to the transfers of him leaving, we have to clean and move things around in our house right now because we’re making a new area out in Sesquile.
We’re getting 2 new missionaries moving in with us for a week and one of them used to be one of the assistants to the president. He’ll be our new district president, and he’ll also be training at the same time. I feel kind of bad for him. He has three challenges at once: 1.) being the NEW district leader, 2.) TRAINING a new missionary that he’s getting 3.) Opening up a NEW area. We have a little area book for Sesquile, but it’s so outdated when Elder Lopez and I got it that it doesn’t do anyone ANY good.
This week was also unbelievably slow because of the celebrations going on here. All of our investigators cancelled on us practically every day, and also the events that go on every night go on until at least midnight… RIGHT OUTSIDE of our apartment. In fact, just this past Saturday, the city hired a band to play music for a party. It started at 9 pm. It ended at 3 am. Needless to say, I didn’t really sleep well that night. It’s still going on right now, but I don’t know if there’s going to be anymore events that will keep us up at night.
My new companion is Elder Lara. He’s from Ecuador and he seems to be wanting to work REALLY hard. I’m excited for that because I want to work really hard as well. I don’t have a picture of him (yet) but I will send one next week. I’m sort of nervous to see how we’ll get along, but hey… what’s the point of new companions if you don’t learn from each one? He’s coming from Barranca (where Elder Albrecht is at) while Elder Lopez is going out to Bucaramanga. It’s pretty ironic because the climates of Barranca and Bucaramanga are identical but exactly opposite to Tocancipa. Tocancipa is cold and wet while both Barranca and Bucaramanga are hot and dry, so it’ll take a while for them to adjust here.
Well, because this week was really slow, we weren’t able to do much with our investigators. The only GREAT news is that we had another baptism this week. Graciela Muñoz finally was able to be baptized and Elder Lopez got to do the baptismal ordinance. The bishop got to confirm, but I got to stand in the circle. I was SO happy. We’re getting her ready to go to the temple to do baptisms this October (probably the 15th).
I haven’t received any package. I WANT to receive a package, but if nothing happens… =P
And about asking if Peanut Butter is a good trading tool, I have no idea. I haven’t wanted to trade anything nor had I had the need to trade. Peanut butter is pretty easy to find apparently in Bogota, so there, I doubt it is a good trading tool.
I HAVE used my debit card down here. It was the third week or so when I was in the Bogota CCM. I bought a case for my scriptures from the Distribution Center and I didn’t have any problems. There aren’t many places here that take credit cards, so if I DO need money, then I’m going to have to make a cash withdraw.
Anyways, I love you all and I hope to hear from EACH ONE OF YOU INDIVIDUALLY. Until next week!
With love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 13
Dear Everyone,
So, this week wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t that great either in terms of work. It seems that everyone cancelled on us. The good news is though we finally got a baptism! =) This past weekend, Tatiana Casallas was baptized in Sesquile. It was a small service, but it was a nice one nonetheless.
This week, we have another baptism planned for Graciela Muñoz. Elder Pluid is coming down this Wednesday to conduct her interview and we’re going to talk to her about her service a bit to see who she wants to speak, who she wants to baptize her, and just other last minute baptismal stuff. I’m really excited to see her get baptized this week. It’s such a great feeling knowing that we’ve been with her from the beginning. She’s already starting to trust in the ward, so OUR work (Elder Lopez and I) is just about finished and handing her over to the hands of the ward is now our main priority.
Our other families are progressing VERY slowly. The Cardena Arocas finally got to meet with us again, but when we tried to talk to them about their assignment we gave them, they hadn’t read it yet. My main concern with them however is that their oldest son, Nicholas, says he prayed about the Book of Mormon, but hasn’t received an answer about it yet while the rest of the family has said that they have. This week, we’re going to go over to their house again and answer a few questions that they have (because they said that they have some doubts) and hopefully help them through this sticky part of coming to Jesus Christ.
In better news though, the Garzons are progressing rapidly. Jorge, the father, attended church for the first time this week, so that puts everyone (except the mom) at church at least once. Jessica has already attended 3 times and she’s doing GREAT. She loves the church and the Young Women in our ward, and she feels really involved. Next week, Elder Lopez and I are hoping that the WHOLE family can attend church together and then we can put down another definite baptismal date for all of them. We were going to put one down Saturday when we visited them, but we forgot in the excitement of having everyone there at the same time for our first time teaching them.
The Suarezs are still our big headaches. As much as we love teaching them, they’re still having problems just reading and are constantly asking questions to COMPARE the Catholic church to this Church. It’s a bit frustrating because we can’t really get the Spirit with them when we teach, but we had one lesson where we read the assignment that they were SUPPOSED to read before we got there. We could feel the Spirit for the first time there, and I think they could too. So, we’re having some progress although none of them have attended church yet… They SAY that they’re going to go this week for sure, but they said that the past 3 weeks as well. I’m hoping, but there is nothing that we have done that has convinced them to come to church with us. I REALLY want this family to come to church so that they can feel the Spirit and progress a lot faster. I know that once they attend, that almost all of their questions will be answered.
So, in all we were able to teach a lot of inactives this week as well. With one family, (the Fernandez family) I’m a bit unsure how to handle the situation because the father (I forgot his name) doesn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, but he does believe that he was a great prophet and teacher and that we should follow his example. We have told him to read the Book of Mormon, but he says that’s a challenge for him because he only believes “80% of the church’s doctrine” (his words exactly)… So, I don’t really know what way to handle this with him. We’re trying to help him, but unless he’s WILLING to find out again what he knew before he went inactive, there’s nothing that we can really do for him.
This week, we have another baptism planned for Graciela Muñoz. Elder Pluid is coming down this Wednesday to conduct her interview and we’re going to talk to her about her service a bit to see who she wants to speak, who she wants to baptize her, and just other last minute baptismal stuff. I’m really excited to see her get baptized this week. It’s such a great feeling knowing that we’ve been with her from the beginning. She’s already starting to trust in the ward, so OUR work (Elder Lopez and I) is just about finished and handing her over to the hands of the ward is now our main priority.
Our other families are progressing VERY slowly. The Cardena Arocas finally got to meet with us again, but when we tried to talk to them about their assignment we gave them, they hadn’t read it yet. My main concern with them however is that their oldest son, Nicholas, says he prayed about the Book of Mormon, but hasn’t received an answer about it yet while the rest of the family has said that they have. This week, we’re going to go over to their house again and answer a few questions that they have (because they said that they have some doubts) and hopefully help them through this sticky part of coming to Jesus Christ.
In better news though, the Garzons are progressing rapidly. Jorge, the father, attended church for the first time this week, so that puts everyone (except the mom) at church at least once. Jessica has already attended 3 times and she’s doing GREAT. She loves the church and the Young Women in our ward, and she feels really involved. Next week, Elder Lopez and I are hoping that the WHOLE family can attend church together and then we can put down another definite baptismal date for all of them. We were going to put one down Saturday when we visited them, but we forgot in the excitement of having everyone there at the same time for our first time teaching them.
The Suarezs are still our big headaches. As much as we love teaching them, they’re still having problems just reading and are constantly asking questions to COMPARE the Catholic church to this Church. It’s a bit frustrating because we can’t really get the Spirit with them when we teach, but we had one lesson where we read the assignment that they were SUPPOSED to read before we got there. We could feel the Spirit for the first time there, and I think they could too. So, we’re having some progress although none of them have attended church yet… They SAY that they’re going to go this week for sure, but they said that the past 3 weeks as well. I’m hoping, but there is nothing that we have done that has convinced them to come to church with us. I REALLY want this family to come to church so that they can feel the Spirit and progress a lot faster. I know that once they attend, that almost all of their questions will be answered.
So, in all we were able to teach a lot of inactives this week as well. With one family, (the Fernandez family) I’m a bit unsure how to handle the situation because the father (I forgot his name) doesn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, but he does believe that he was a great prophet and teacher and that we should follow his example. We have told him to read the Book of Mormon, but he says that’s a challenge for him because he only believes “80% of the church’s doctrine” (his words exactly)… So, I don’t really know what way to handle this with him. We’re trying to help him, but unless he’s WILLING to find out again what he knew before he went inactive, there’s nothing that we can really do for him.
So, to answer your questions: Christian and Jessica are still planning to get baptized, but not on the 29th because the family hasn’t been going to church. The only one who is ABLE and READY to be baptized is Jessica. Even then, we want to baptize them as a family to make it more special for them. So, we have to reset their baptismal date and we’re hoping that the 13th of October. Zone conference was good… I talked about it in my last email I thought. Elder Christofferson spoke Spanish, so I wasn’t able to understand anything in all honesty.
Anyways, I love you all and I’ll talk to you later!
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 12
I’m not really sure what my favorite dish that I’ve had out here so far is. The closest thing I can think of that I REALLY liked was a soup called crema (even then, I’m not sure that’s the name of it). But for sure, my least favorite dish that I’ve had so far is mute. It was really rubbery and just the after taste wasn’t the greatest. It wasn’t HORRIBLE when I ate it, but it wasn’t that great either.
Dear Everyone,
It´s a bit frustrating for us at the moment because we´ve just hit a lull in all of our investigators’ progresses. We were having a few great weeks, but now we’re having trouble with getting all of our investigators coming to church. As hard as we’re trying, we can’t get more than half of our investigators to come with us.
Other than that, we’re doing good out here. We have a baptism in Sesquile planned for this week. Her name is Tatiana Casaya and she’s been attending church for a while, she’s just been needing formal lessons from the missionaries to be baptized. As for our other investigators, Graciela couldn’t attend church this weekend unfortunately, but she told us that this is the only week that she wouldn’t be able to attend. We’re looking forward to next week because that’s when she’ll receive her baptismal interview. She is an amazing woman. Many people asked about her when she didn’t show up to church Sunday, so I know that hermanamiento isn’t an issue with her (although I thought it was).
Other than that, we’re doing good out here. We have a baptism in Sesquile planned for this week. Her name is Tatiana Casaya and she’s been attending church for a while, she’s just been needing formal lessons from the missionaries to be baptized. As for our other investigators, Graciela couldn’t attend church this weekend unfortunately, but she told us that this is the only week that she wouldn’t be able to attend. We’re looking forward to next week because that’s when she’ll receive her baptismal interview. She is an amazing woman. Many people asked about her when she didn’t show up to church Sunday, so I know that hermanamiento isn’t an issue with her (although I thought it was).
Another family that we’re having small successes with is the Garzon family. They are the neighbors of another family of investigators that we’re having trouble with right now, but (as I was saying) their children, Jorge (Jr.), Christian, and Jessica are attending church regularly. The family as a whole hasn’t been able to yet because of work issues. The mom (I just forgot her name right now) is a health worker, so she just finished a huge report that was due the other week. She said that she’ll attend church this week, so we need to remind her about that and also, Jorge (Sr.) says that he’s going to attend church this week with his wife.
The Garzons’ children are one of our single rays of light right now. Although we had set the whole family’s baptismal date for the end of this month, they fell through because not all of them could attend church. So, we’re hoping that at least Christian and Jessica can get baptized on the 29th because they both seem to love the church right now. The special significance about that date is that it’s the day after Christian’s birthday. If he can attend church the next two weeks in a row, then he’ll be able to make that date for his baptism. I REALLY hope that he can. Anyways, all is well here in Tocancipa.
The Garzons’ children are one of our single rays of light right now. Although we had set the whole family’s baptismal date for the end of this month, they fell through because not all of them could attend church. So, we’re hoping that at least Christian and Jessica can get baptized on the 29th because they both seem to love the church right now. The special significance about that date is that it’s the day after Christian’s birthday. If he can attend church the next two weeks in a row, then he’ll be able to make that date for his baptism. I REALLY hope that he can. Anyways, all is well here in Tocancipa.
So, in response to the questions that everyone has sent to me: The favorite part about being in the field is that I get to meet new people and I get to talk with them all the time. Although I’m not ALWAYS greeted with the friendliest greetings at times, (because of my missionary status) the ones that do greet us and talk to us are fun to be with and learn their stories. For example, there’s a man in our ward who lost his leg when he was a child because he was shot near the spinal cord. Although the drive-by shooting wasn’t meant for him, he was still pretty bitter and sad about it for a while. When he joined the church (I haven’t really heard this part of the story) he seemed to accept it and understand why he lost his leg and accepted it a bit more.
I haven’t had an awkward experience so far (thank goodness), but I know that it’ll come eventually. I haven’t had a language issue yet because I haven’t really had the opportunity to teach much. Elder Lopez (because he speaks Spanish fluently) is pretty good at answering and keeping everyone’s attention more than me. I usually get about 2-3 minutes to teach when I teach just so that I get that opportunity.
As of right now, Elder Lopez and I visit 2 wards. This past Sunday, we had to go on splits because he had to go to Sesquile to teach a lesson, while I had to stay in Tocancipa with our investigators. However, in 2 weeks, we’ll only have to visit 1 ward because Presidente Andelin has said that he’ll make Sesquile it’s own area in order to save money as well as ease our burden, but that’s also IF I stay in Tocancipa for my first transfer. We’re going to have a zone conference this Tuesday, so I think that’s when Presidente Andelin is going to decide who’s moving and who’s staying.
I REALLY want to stay in Tocancipa right now because most of our investigators are on shaky ground and Elder Lopez and I are having a bit of trouble with the confidence of everyone. If we transfer, the trust between us and them might be lost, so I’m hoping that nothing really happens this first transfer I have, but if I were transferred and had the choice where to get transferred to, I’d probably choose to open the new area in Sesquile because there’s this REALLY pretty cathedral out there. It’s really old, so it has those gargoyles and a huge clock tower in the center (like in The Hunchback of Notre Dame). I didn’t get the chance to see inside of it while we were there, but I bet the inside was probably just as impressive as the outside.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to play a piano in about 3 months. The ONLY piano out here in Tocancipa is a little organet (keyboard) that doesn’t have a damper pedal. Every time that I have tried to pull it out from the Bishop’s office to practice a bit after church, little children come around and constantly take over to the point that I can’t hear if I’m playing correctly. So, I’ve just consigned myself to a period of pianolessness until I there’s an actual opportunity to play.
I’m not really sure what my favorite dish that I’ve had out here so far is. The closest thing I can think of that I REALLY liked was a soup called crema (even then, I’m not sure that’s the name of it). But for sure, my least favorite dish that I’ve had so far is mute. It was really rubbery and just the after taste wasn’t the greatest. It wasn’t HORRIBLE when I ate it, but it wasn’t that great either.
The best experience that I’ve had out here is yesterday when I was without Elder Lopez. I was super nervous because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with Jorge or Jessica at all (the two who went to church with me), but they could understand me pretty well. I think it was probably a bit difficult to understand me, but it was neat nonetheless that I could understand them and that they could understand me. I REALLY hope that I can get this language down pretty quickly. I’m studying almost every day, and I am CONSTANTLY looking through the dictionary that I bought for helpful hints and new words. It’s helpful, but it’s not perfect. It’s a Spanish-English dictionary instead of an English-Spanish dictionary, so the main language it’s written in is in Spanish and it offers mostly hints on how to speak English rather than hints on how to speak Spanish. It’s Oxford, so it’s REALLY accurate, but it’s a bit difficult to read the hints that it has for the English section to try to do some reverse translating.
Anyways, until next week! All’s well that ends well!
With love,
Jared Rezendes
Week 11
So, this week was a good week! It wasn`t as busy as last week, but it was still a great week nonetheless. Our newest investigators, Graciela Muñoz and Familia Gardena Aroca, are progressing. Graciela is MORE than ready, so we`re just waiting for the 22nd of September to roll around now. She already has people in mind to invite to her baptism. The Gardena Arocas have hit somewhat of a roadblock, but it`s more our fault than theirs. They love the church, and it`s extremely apparent of the change that it has brought into their lives, but they don`t quite understand the importance of baptism. So, when we go to teach them tonight, we`re going to jump ahead a little bit to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ before we teach the Plan of Salvation.
Other investigators that we have are Familia Garzon. Christian was our initial contact with them, and as such, he`s progressing much faster than the other members of his family, but we`ve only had one official lesson with them so far. Just yesterday, he and his 14 year old sister, Jessica, attended church. It was a good experience, but I think that they have questions that they didn`t get answered. We`re going over there tomorrow, so hopefully we`ll have the chance to talk to the whole family. The rest of the family (besides Christian and Jessica) are having problems attending church. The mother is a health care provider (somewhat kind of like an epidemiologist) and is working on a large report that involves all the people of Tocancipa and some of the surrounding cities, so it`s understandable as to why she isn`t able to attend right now. The father, Jorge, works most Sundays, so getting him to church is going to be a bit difficult also. I have high hopes for this family, but they need a lot of questions answered before they get baptized. Although they have a date set, Elder Lopez and I don`t think it`s going to stick for ALL 4 of them, but maybe for Christian and Jessica. We have the date set for the 29th, the day after Christian`s birthday, so we`re hoping that`s good motivation for them.
The other investigators we found this week was a group of 3 women: Tatiana, Luzdadi, y Luzmeni. Tatiana is ready and willing for the gospel, but her work schedule is really strange, so, this week, she was unable to attend church. Luzdadi and Luzmeni are sisters, but Luzmeni said when we asked her to be baptized that she`s STRONGLY Catholic because she was born Catholic. So, although they`re not PERFECTLY ready, they definitely want the gospel, as they`ve said that they can feel “something” there when we talk to them. It`s going to take a while, but we think we can do it with the help of the Spirit.
Anyways, nothing super exciting has happened this week other than the fact that we found that we need A LOT of help. Sesquile, another city in our area is in dire need of its own missionaries. Through it, we found out how large our area ACTUALLY is.Sesquile is 20 minutes away by bus and it has a huge Catholic cathedral in the middle of the city. The city itself has about 50,000 people in it and it was our first visit there this week.
Other investigators that we have are Familia Garzon. Christian was our initial contact with them, and as such, he`s progressing much faster than the other members of his family, but we`ve only had one official lesson with them so far. Just yesterday, he and his 14 year old sister, Jessica, attended church. It was a good experience, but I think that they have questions that they didn`t get answered. We`re going over there tomorrow, so hopefully we`ll have the chance to talk to the whole family. The rest of the family (besides Christian and Jessica) are having problems attending church. The mother is a health care provider (somewhat kind of like an epidemiologist) and is working on a large report that involves all the people of Tocancipa and some of the surrounding cities, so it`s understandable as to why she isn`t able to attend right now. The father, Jorge, works most Sundays, so getting him to church is going to be a bit difficult also. I have high hopes for this family, but they need a lot of questions answered before they get baptized. Although they have a date set, Elder Lopez and I don`t think it`s going to stick for ALL 4 of them, but maybe for Christian and Jessica. We have the date set for the 29th, the day after Christian`s birthday, so we`re hoping that`s good motivation for them.
The other investigators we found this week was a group of 3 women: Tatiana, Luzdadi, y Luzmeni. Tatiana is ready and willing for the gospel, but her work schedule is really strange, so, this week, she was unable to attend church. Luzdadi and Luzmeni are sisters, but Luzmeni said when we asked her to be baptized that she`s STRONGLY Catholic because she was born Catholic. So, although they`re not PERFECTLY ready, they definitely want the gospel, as they`ve said that they can feel “something” there when we talk to them. It`s going to take a while, but we think we can do it with the help of the Spirit.
Anyways, nothing super exciting has happened this week other than the fact that we found that we need A LOT of help. Sesquile, another city in our area is in dire need of its own missionaries. Through it, we found out how large our area ACTUALLY is.Sesquile is 20 minutes away by bus and it has a huge Catholic cathedral in the middle of the city. The city itself has about 50,000 people in it and it was our first visit there this week.
We were talking with the branch president there and he was telling Elder Lopez and I how much that the city needs its own set of missionaries. Of the 5 members we visited, we discovered that they all had about 5 names each of people who they want the missionaries to visit. So… we sent an email to the mission president and he said that he would send some missionaries out there on the next transfer and make it it`s own separate area.
So, in response to everyone`s questions, the language is coming along slowly. Not as quickly as I`d like, but it`s only 20 days out in the field. I`m relying on Elder Lopez for help. I had to teach a class in church to my investigators about the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. I failed miserably by myself. We left class 20 minutes early and Elder Lopez ended up doing most of the talking.
Also, I found out the hard way that you guys just started Daylight Savings Time. Yesterday, I accidentally slept in until 8 because my alarm fell back an hour on its own. Elder Lopez was kind of pissed off, but there wasn`t much that he could do. Did you enjoy your extra hour of sleep? =P
All is well over here. We haven`t had a baptism yet, but we have 13 investigators with a baptismal date. Some on the 22nd of the month and the others on the 29th. I`m hoping that all of them will go through, but you can see how it`s going.
I love you all and I`ll talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 10
President Christofferson´s talk, I heard, was amazing. I went, but I didn´t understand anything… He speaks Spanish.
Anyways, this past week was an amazing week for both of us out here in Tocancipa. We were blessed with the opportunity to find 9 new investigators in one day just 2 doors down from each other. One family is called the Garzons. There are two young men and a young woman in their family including the parents. We initially met Christian, the middle child, at the door as a contact. He invited us into his house the very first time we talked to him.
The second family, called the Gardena Aroca, was sort of a spiritual gift. I say it like this because when we talked to them, we were headed to an appointment with Christian and his family, but we forgot which door was his. We ended knocking on the wrong door and to our surprise, we met the family. We had originally contacted them, but only Oscar, 12 years old, was home and he didn´t seem to have much interest in the church, so we had planned to come by another day when we could tell if his parents were home. This time that we contacted them, his older brother, Nicholas, the 15 year old, answered the door.
Almost everyone was home, with the exception of the father, the family was extremely receptive and open to receive the gospel. Elizabeth, the mother, Nicholas, Oscar, and Leonardo, invited us in right away although we were a bit hesitant because we didn´t want to be late to the appointment with Christian, but this is where the guidance of the Spirit comes in. We went in anyways because they were so eager to hear our message and we just got to know them a bit. When Oscar and Leonardo left, the mother expressed concern about Oscar. I couldn´t really understand what she was saying, but I could tell that she had a genuine concern and that she really wants the Gospel in her life (also, Elder Lopez was understanding what she was saying, so he could just fill me in). When Oscar and Leonardo returned, we both had the strong impression to invite them to church. We did and they accepted. We were REALLY happy when we found them. We had a 30 second chat about it outside of the house before we went to knock on the door of Christian.
Outside of Christian´s house was his brother Jorge who is 22 years old. The first visit that we talked with Christian, he had expressed concern about his brother and him smoking. When we came up to the house, Jorge was just opening up a new pack of cigarettes with his friend, but when we arrived on his doorstep, he stopped what he was doing, his friend took the cigarettes and left, and Jorge started to talk with us a bit. He opened up his house and called Christian down and we started to talk to both of them. It was really interesting and fun to get to know them, but I know that the Spirit was guiding us because, as we started to talk and teach a little bit, the rest of the family (with the exception of the sister who was in Bogota with her cousin) started to come home. We got to talk to 4 of the 5 family members as well as Christian´s girlfriend. If we had shown up earlier, I know that we wouldn´t have been able to talk to anyone but Christian, which would have been great but the whole family was better. We have another appointment to go visit them this week.
All this occurred in the space of two hours on Saturday evening. It was an amazing experience to see Elizabeth at church the very next day with all of her children. It was even nice to see another golden investigator that we met this week come to church also.
Our other investigator´s name is Graciela Muñoz. She is so willing and ready for the gospel that in the second visit that we had with her, she was already asking what she had to become a member of the church. We challenged her, her son, Miguel, and his wife, Sandra, to baptism on the 22 of September and they all said yes. Miguel and his wife aren´t AS ready and receptive, but they are definitely willing to listen and to receive the Gospel in the right way and with the help of the Spirit. But anyways, the way we met Graciela this week was with the help of the Spirit also. We were contacting up in an area that we had never been in before and we were actually across the street from Graciela. When we went to go contact her, her door opened and another investigator (well, she just became a new investigator yesterday) named Estela was walking out.
Estela recognized us as missionaries and started praising the work of the Lord that we were doing and told us about how missionaries like us had saved the life of her daughter a few years prior, all in front of Graciela. We took down Estela´s information, she left, and then Graciela invited us in. We talked to her for a good half hour and she told us almost her whole life story and religious background that we wanted to know without us even asking. Her mom died just a few weeks ago, she is Catholic, and she had questions that the Catholic church SHOULD have had the answers to, but didn´t for her. As a result, she respects the Catholic church, but she started looking for the truth. She prayed for help, and we showed up two days later: the first day that she was in her son´s home. She had heard of Mormon missionaries a while ago, and she prayed to Heavenly Father to know a bit more about us when the time was right. Well, the time is apparently right, and she is listening and the Holy Ghost is helping her move so fast, it´s almost as if she´s a member already, but just needs the ordinance to do it.
All this week was amazing and filled with guidance and help from the Holy Ghost. It was the best week that Elder Lopez has had (he says) out here. I constantly thank Heavenly Father for our many blessings and the opportunity to teach the Gospel and bring it to the willing and ready in heart. This week alone, we tripled the work we had prior and now we´re having a bit of trouble keeping up with everything in the way we´d like to.
With love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
Week 9
Dear Everyone,
As of right now, the language is coming along, but I don´t know as much as I´d like to right now. The amount I can speak and understand varies from day to day. My trainer, Elder Lopez, is from Santa Cruz, Bolivia and is pretty fluent in English (more than he´d like to admit). We´re getting along pretty well so far, but then again it´s only the first week out here, so only time will tell after the 12 weeks with him are up.
Right now, we are serving in a little town just outside of Bogota called Tocancipa. It has about 6,000 people in it and it´s super dusty here all the time. When it´s not dusty, it´s extremely muddy from the rain that we get about every 3 days for 2 days straight. (In other words, 2 days straight of rain and then a 3 day break before it rains again for 2 days straight). It´s a REALLY large area, apparently we have all the way down to La Asuncion (?) and we have to walk EVERYWHERE regardless of the area I´m in because: 1.) Bikes get stolen frequently from the Elders (and only them for some reason) and 2.) DRIVING IS DANGEROUS. I´m glad I´m not allowed to drive down here. If I want to get anywhere far away, I have to either walk or take a bus. The drivers here are all crazy! Worse than the US.
I arrived in this area Last Monday night at around 8:30 pm, so I got to drop off my luggage and meet the ward mission president who is 18 years old.
I´m enjoying all the food here so far. There was one questionable dish that I had, but I didn´t ask what was in it because of what it looked like called muté. Let´s just say that it´s probably better I didn´t know and just know that I enjoyed it in the moment.
Anyways, everything is good here and all is well. I´ve only given 7 discussions so far and they all went pretty well in my opinion (but then again, I didn´t understand EVERYTHING that was being said in them). We are working really hard as a companionship to bring inactive members to our ward. It´s a pretty small branch as it is, so every member counts. There was about 14 families in the ward meaning about 70-80 members above the age of 8.
I haven´t had to give another talk while here, but next week I have a feeling that I´ll have to in sacrament meeting to introduce myself a bit to the members. Most of them already know me, but it´s still a formality that I´ll need to do. All is well and I´ll send you pictures next week! I forgot my memory card/camera this week, but it´s beautiful here. I really wish you could see what I see. A camera can´t capture 1/100 of what I wish you could see that I have.
I love you and I´ll talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Jared Austin Rezendes
Week 7
Dear Everyone,
So, this week has been completely boring and uneventful other than the fact that I am one week closer to going out into the field. I just finished reading the Book of Mormon all the way through in one week, and now I´m trying to read it all the way up to Jacob before I leave.
This weekend I will be proselyting again with another missionary, but instead of being in Bogota Norté (which was last proselyting experience) I will be in Bogota Sur. I have two Latino companions this time instead of an American who is out in the field, but I think everything will go well.
I am EXTREMELY bored and antsy in the MTC and I have been for the past week and a half, so this leaving is a great change for me that I have been long awaiting for. It is amazing and everyone here is getting a lot more antsy than I am, so the teachers are getting ready to kill us in class. But, hey, all is good because 6 weeks in the same building would drive anyone insane, right?
Anyways, I love you all and I will see you at the end!
Love,
Elder Jared Rezendes
