Monday, August 6, 2012

getting work done

Well it seems to me that my death will not be an easy one after all!! Well this week i had to go to Neiva with President to do some missionary training and help him with a meeting with our good old friend Pres. Pico and organize out new missionary plan, Plan Perry, with the people in tierra caliente. So i left Thursday and got back Sunday morning. I am super wasted. But it was a great trip. I love being with President. He has that inspiring fire that keeps me going and he loves workin me to death. Its pretty funny cuz he usually forgets all of the little logistical things so i always got to pop up with a quick fix to the little things haha!! Its fun. I am glad that we have a lot of trust between us so he just gives me like a quick sec to do my thing and we can get things rolling again! Its always fun and an adventure with president! haha!! But i left my companion in Ibague to work with another missionary for a couple of days. Its not good that a new missionary does all of the errands and all that i have to do. I dont want him to get out of the teaching routine or anything. It's best if he stays in a teaching routine and a constant plan of contact and teaching. I try to limit my Ap stuff to the shortest time possible but still be an effective Ap. It's a challenge at times haha! But i got a bit ticked when i got back. I left my comp with the ZL and they arent waking up on time or studying like they should and the assignment i gave them they didnt really do it to the level that they should have!! So that got me a bit frustrated but we are getting the mission rollin! We are doing some great work here!

 Our atheist guy is great!!! We were talking about the creation this week with him and he loved it about Adam and Eve and the creation and we actually read the Pearl of Great Price alot with him. It's an awesome book about the creation! Really Atheists just want answers and for lack of not knowing the truth they still feel the effects of the apostasy and try to make there own answers from the lack of knowledge from the lack of the plenitud del evangelio. So we teach in a little like salon in our Apartment complex and we teach the security gaurds and our atheist friend loved our talks this past week and invited more friends to listen to us! So we have christians and atheists there that we teach. It is the coolest experiences ever!! We make sure that we are not fighting our contectious ir nothing just we speak pure doctrine!! Its funny with my comp! I am working really hard with him in his spanish he got 2 weeeks in the mission field and well we are in the fight!! He has a hard time with numbers and colors and common phrases but i try to get him to do a bit more that just a testimony at the end of lessons! But when he jumps into the lesson with these guys its hilarious! He brings up a topic from like 20 minutes ago haha!! Poor guy i remember those days haha!! But the athesist guy wants to come to church so he promised to come this coming sunday withus YAAA!!!! Its gonna be awesome! I am stoked! An athesist at church haha!! But my comp and i were fasting last week to find some new investigators and this week we got 16 new investigaros that are killerly awesome like people who will progress who listen to us and they are great!! The lord is truely answerin our prayers and we are working with the Lord in His work!1 I am loving it!! Well all is well here in Colombia. Love ya all a ton! Elder Hammer

atheist or not here we come 7/30/2012

Well this was a week of joy, of triumph and sadness!!! Starting the week off we went to Bogota to prepare the meeting for training the new missionaries and receive the new missionaries and all but when we get there the way we planned was changed completely and nobody told us anything so we had to change our training. We were gonna do all the work that we had done in the training that we were gonna do. Well it was in vain and we had to wing it last minute!! AHH Thats what gets me so stressed in the mission when we have to wing things. I am the AP in the hot lands so i coordinated everything for all of the missionaries in the hotlands to go stay in an area in bogota, how to go to the chapel, how the training was gonna be and everything, but in bogota everythin changed and it was like i was a chicken with my head cut off!! AHH!! It gets me stressed!! President is new and his new Aps in bogota are new. I'm not mad but they are just learning and ahh it was a lot of strings we had to connect at last minute!! But it was great, its part of the culture here!! haha!! Change everything last minute and pray that it works out haha!! Then president did a change in the transfers and he changed my comp, who i was gonna train and then changed his mind back to before haha!! It was hialrious!! Stuff like that gets me stressed!! But the day finally came to an end. Bogota forgot about the finacial stuff so i was with Elder Steed workin our tails off trying to orgainze all fo the payments for transport and food and stay for all of the missionaries haha!! But we got that all settled out! But i was grateful to get home on Wednesday night with my child Elder Huckbody from Wisconsin!! haha!! He is gonna be fun!! We are enjoying our time together!! I love the train it is the best, but it is hard training and being AP. We run around alot organizing trainings, meetings, and multi zone conferences solving problems and all and trying to give you good a good experience in the mission field. Well its a bit stressful but its been fun. He keeps me on my toes!! Right now we gringos come not knowing spanish so we have fun studying in the bus and walking an all we have fun!!

Elder Pesado left yesterday, i am sad to see him go! He was a great companion. I learned alot from him. He was the best comp that i have killed!! But before he left we had a baptism saturday night!! Jenifer Pinto got baptized!! YA!! She is woooow!! Super hardcore great testimony I love teachin her. We are now teaching her parents and her brother and we are activating three of her brothers right now!! It is super!! WE have such grerat times with them!!

Well yesterday we were coming home and in the lobby to our apartment complex the guards were having some fight with some dude who was athiest. We are good friends with the guards of our complex so they called us over to talk to the dude so we were like tight! I went over just talked to the dude normally and just conversed nothin more. Then he started telling us that he once was catholic and that he was then lutheran and has been with all the churchs and made the conclusion that all churches are liars and that god doesnt exist! I just kept talking to him and read in 2 nefi 2 about how there is opisicion in all things and that yes there is a God. I love tlaking to athesist because it is straight up testimony time!! I love it! And this guy knows the scriptures so we could cite scriptures and he knew what i was talkin about and all! I loved it!! so we had to get going and before i could even ask he was like hey come to my house i like your sermon haha! I was like well thanks. and so we have and discussion today with the gaurds of our apartment complex and the athesist dude today!! haha! It was such a spiritaul experience!! I loved it!! How the lord can use his servants!! I can really feel his guiding hand in my life as we do our best to serve him adn we sacrifice as missionaries we come t omeet the people God wants us to meet!! IT was a great week in the work of the Lord i am more excited now that ever to be a missionary, i have seen the miracles i have felt His love and guidance and its a love that never runs out it the Holy Ghost that motivates us to keep going!! With my new comp Elder huckbody i am ready to go!! He may not speak much spanish but he speaks from his heart and is an exceellent comp!! I am glad that he will be my last comp. It will be challenge training right now, of course it will but with sacrifce brings forth the blessing of Heaven. I know that cuz i have lived and experimented it for myself!! I love this gospel and being a servant of the most high God. Elder Hammer