Una semana con mucha noticias!!

Well, you are all probably wondering what happened with the whole transfer situation thing and all. Well I got transferred!!!! What in the world, I was not expecting this at all. I only had 3 months in Villa Sonia and Elder Valdivia has 6 months there but I left first! Apparently gringos get transferred alot in this mission so I was like ok, here I go. The Zone leaders called us Monday night and advised me that I would be leaving for Patio Bonito Wednesday. I thought that it was a joke at first, I was like ok Elder Ramirez, where’s Elder Valdivia going. But it was no joke, I am now in Patio Bonito. Its only 45 minutes or so from Villa Sonia but its a whole different world here. I thought that the houses in Villa Sonia were a bit run down but nothing like here. Everyday I enter houses made of sheet metal and dirt floors. I’m still in the city, so its chaotic and all but its just that the streets are lined with tin houses and there are very few paved roads. We walk in the mud everyday, so my shoes are beautiful and brown haha. It was a very difficult change for me. I was just getting into the flow of Villa Sonia and boom I left. I left 5 investigators with baptismal dates and 22 investigators!! I left my work behind in Villa Sonia! I was super bummed. When I got to Villa Sonia we only had 2 investigators. So yes I was working hard, but I left the fruits for another I feel like! but I did my job well I know in Villa Sonia. Just like PMG says, leave your area better than you found that. I can say that iIdid that! Right now Elder V is training another new missionary in Villa Sonia another Gringo haha! So he has at least another 3 months in Villa Sonia. He’s gonna have atleast 9 months total in Villa Sonia. He’ trainig Elder Fifield from Idaho Falls Idaho. He’s a nice sweet kid. We were in a trio for 1 day for Tuesday before I left he came to the area and I went on splits with him. It was cool to see what a new gringo looked like in the mission and to see how much I have grown since I’ve arrived here in Colombia. Like Elder Fifield is doing now, I was also only able to say a few words bear a testimony and say gracias when I got here, but now I’m teaching and doing it all. Elder Valdivia was a very interesting Companion. We have had a lot of special experiences together. Tt was very difficult for about 2 months with him because he got dear Johned and didn’t have much energy throughout the days, so it was hard companionship, but I feel like another new Gringo will keep his mind occupied and focused in the work a bit more.


Patio Bonito is very interesting. My new Companion Elder Vigo is from Peru! He has about 2 1/2 months left in the mission so he’s wrapping it all up! He’s a good kid, we get along fine and were doing good, but he is finishing the mission so at times I need to give him a little kick but its all good. But I came into another dry area. I came into another area with 2 investigators! I wish I could come into an area that had people to teach! Its the hardest thing to find new people, and it was really difficult to leave my investigators and friends in Villa Sonia to come to an area that’s not progressing to well, but we re going to change that! This week though while contacting we picked up another3 investigators!! So we now have a total of 5! With the 2 investigators that were here when I got here we are going to put a baptismal date for one of them this week!! And on Wednesday we are going to try a new way to try to contact new people! We are going to have a free shoe shine booth in the street!! So we are going to bring our shoe shining kits and for the morning we are going to shine peoples shoes and while we are shining there shoes give the a Liahona and a pass along card and setup appointments. The person has to sit there and cant go running anywhere so we can have a good solid 5 minute contact with the persons, its less people to contact but I feel like we will have a more quality contact this way! I am glad for my companion though. He wakes up on time, he goes to bed on time he studies and we have companionship study everyday. So thats a relief, it was hard to motivate Elder Validivia to do these things.


To come to a new area though it’s a fresh new start though. The members of Villa Sonia trusted me and we had a great time together, but since I came there not knowing much Spanish, they didn’t trust my Spanish, so i didn’t have the opportunity to really have there complete trust. But here the people are great, and I am talking to them and they know that I am ready to teach and I speak well enough that people understand me, sure I make a lot of mistakes in the language but I understand practically everything and I am learning everyday and expressing and teaching a whole lot better with the guidance of the spirit! I am in the Patio Bonito Ward and our area also covers Tintal Branch. Patio Bonito ward has about 125 members and the Tintal Branch has about 35, so I get a good experience of the two!


Sure I was bummed about leaving Villa Sonia but Claudia called me the other day. She’s the drug addict that just got out of rehab and has a baptismal date 26 de Marzo and she got the number for Patio Bonito and asked me if I could comeback to Villa Sonia for here Baptism and baptize her! Usually I wouldn’t want to do the baptism, its better for a member to perform the baptism, but for her I can make an exception haha! So we have an area training next week and I’m gonna ask the president for permission to go to Villa Sonia for the baptism! I’m pretty sure he will let me! And they are going to try to have the other 4 baptisms the same day so I can see all of my wonderful friends be baptized!! Ahh, I love my investigators of Villa Sonia!!! I really had a good close relationship with them!!


And we now have DIA DE DESCANSO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that you can feel my excitement! We now have p-day!! Oh what a blessing this will be!! Today is my first pday in the mission field!! 3 and a half months with out pday is hard! Sure i love the work and love spreading the gospel, but a nap would be delightful, to shoot a basketball, or run around would be delightful! So today we are getting together as a zone and were gonna play some games and all! I like my zone leader hear Elder Hernandez! He’s a cool kid and Elder Mcderment, they both are actually Colombian! And there also is another Gringo in the Zone!! I’m not alone!!! haha! Elder Dainesis in my zone, so it will be fun to talk to another gringo. I dont mind the latinos but when it come to chistes and all, i dont understand the humor here. I don’t know there TV or cultura well enough to think the jokes are funny, but I will learn soon enough! So all is well up in here! Love ya all and miss ya tons!! Sorry i didn’t have time to take pics this week but for sure next week I will send some!!
Love Elder Hammer