Elder De Camp

Here are some pictures of one of Will's good friends, Elder Jed De Camp, who is in Philadelphia (inner city ghetto right now) on a mission. He left shortly after Will and loves his mission. It is wonderful how these boys from a town of 12,000 people in rural Wyoming have made such major adjustments and love wherever they are at.



Yikes!! He lives in an apartment in the inner city area. It looks a little rough there. They play basketball each Prep day with some gang type guys who look after and protect them throughout the week.

There must be a street or something named Wyoming. If there is anything within a 50 mile radius like that - well, you can count on a 19 year old Elder to find it.

Jed in front of his row house apartment.

Jed and Will

A Great Week

I keep asking Will each week to send us some pictures. This week he actually sent two. He didn't say where they were though.

This may be a shot from one of their windows. He's never said anything about a swimming pool.

This must be their bathroom - I had to laugh becaused I have asked him to take pictures of his apartment so I guess he did. They do have a nice place. I guess in a city of one million people there are lots of nice apartments. He said that he is sending 2 CD's full of pictures home in the mail and I can't wait to get them. I hope they get here okay.

January 26, 2009

Hola familia,

It has been a veeery good and veeery fast week. It seems like just yesterday that I was writing to you, but I guess that’s good. We continue to have success finding great people; this really is a super area with wonderful people.

Ha-ha that’s awesome that you guys met a lady from here and from the Terrazas Ward. I am in the Real De Minas Ward but while they are renovating our chapel we go to the Terrazas chapel and I know a bunch of members from that Ward.

Also cool about the food. The hamburgers always have arepa (the white bread stuff) and we eat a lot of yucca too (the really bland kind of potato thing). The food is definitely different here but I’ve gotten used to it.

Today we have had a good P day. This morning we went and I mailed two CD’s with pictures. I wrapped them in newspaper and put them in a box to send to you guys. It will take about 15 to 20 days but it was only 17 mil pesos, (8 dollars). After that we cleaned the house like crazy and now it is all nice and clean.

We had a very good week. There is a member in our ward named Mabel, who had been the only member in her family for quite some time, with no support. This week we baptized her two brothers, Caesar and Alberto (14 and 21). It was a very nice baptism and lots of members came to support them.

It was really a great Sunday because we got to see the ¨fruits of our labors¨. Jose and Pablo, from the family that we baptized last week, received the Aaronic priesthood. Also, Alberto and Caesar, who we baptized this week, received the Aaronic Priesthood. Next week, between the 4 of them, they are going to bless and pass the Sacrament. The entire Sacrament is going to be done by 4 of our converts.

Also, when they gave us the paper that tells us where we have lunches for the week, Marta the wife that we baptized last week, had signed up to give us lunch and now they are talking with the Bishop about preparing for the TEMPLE when they are eligible in a year. I can’t wait to talk further with her.

We have been so blessed in this area to find such great people and it is so rewarding to see them growing in the church. I can’t tell you what joy this brings to us.

Sounds like things are going great with all the nephews and nieces. Tell them all that I am very proud of them. Everyone asks about my family and when they hear that I have 3 siblings and 9 little nieces and nephews, they are amazed that everyone in the family is a member.

You asked me if the people still stare at me in the streets. They still do wherever we go because I am the only gringo missionary here in Bucaramanga, but in the barrios we are familiar with the little kids who always run up to us and ask me how to speak English.

Well not much more news here - everything is great.

Much love and thanks for all the support,
Will

Transfers

January 19, 2009

Haaalo familia.
Well it has been quite a week here with a lot going on. Tuesday, we had the baptism of Marta, Jose and their son Pablo. We were presented with about every problem that there could have been to prevent them from getting baptized but now they are married, baptized and confirmed so it feels very good.

Tuesday morning we were finalizing the plans for the baptism when Jose called us and told us his boss was going to let him off for the short marriage ceremony but not for the baptism later that night so he could only be off work from 4 to 6 P.M. The marriage ceremony was originally scheduled for 5:30 which would not have been enough time to do both. But the day before the Notaria called and told them it was changed to 5 which gave us one hour, (what a blessing). We could have just waited to do the baptism another day but Elder Amador and I had worked a ton with this family and he really wanted to see them get baptized. We decided to take care of the marriage and run to the closest chapel as fast as we could. It was interesting at first to be rushing around to get a baptism done, but everything went very well and in the end it was a great feeling.

My comp baptized Pablo (12) and Marta and I baptized Jose. They also have a little girl named Angie who is 6. It was very rewarding to see the people whose door I had knocked on almost 2 months earlier and who almost didn’t listen to us, walk into the font completely confident and knowing what they were doing was right.
About the wedding - for the civil wedding it was a very short little ceremony in the Notary with just some missionaries and a few family members. We borrowed a suit from another Elder here that is about the same size as Jose so that he could wear one for the wedding. After the baptism Jose had to run to work but we took Marta, Pablo and Angie to their casa in a taxi and talked for a little bit and explained what came next. It was a very busy and tiring day but one of the best.

Also, I found out a few hours after sending my last email that Elder Amador was getting sent to Bogotá for transfers and I had a new companion coming. Wednesday morning we saw all the Elders that were leaving, off at the bus terminal. I told Elder Amador thanks for everything. He gave me an Argentina National Soccer team jersey and I gave him my Wyoming Football T shirt. and they were off to Bogotá. I feel very blessed to have had Elder Amador for a trainer and I definitely learned a ton from him.

Wednesday Night, my new Companion, Elder Araujo got here. He is a little Elder from Peru who has 20 months in the mission field. Ha, when I say little, I mean little. I figured out converting the measurements to the English system, that he is 4 foot 9 inches tall and tips the scales at 114 pounds. I imagine it is quite the site to see us walking down the street here, but the Lord has a reason for everything. (Will is almost 6 feet 3 inches tall). He has a personality very different than Elder Amador. The only way I can think to describe Elder Araujo is like one of those salesmen that is really, really friendly and talks in kind of a bubbly voice. He seems to be a very good teacher and has a good heart.

It was a little scary at first because it’s the first time I have had to introduce someone to a new area and get us around and take care of planning the lessons and meals and all, but just until he gets a little more settled into the area. He is a little harder to understand because he talks kind of softly and smoothly and uses a lot of sayings I don't know but I’m getting used to it. In Peru, the pronounciations are slightly different than Argentina. He was amazed at how well Elder Lee and I are coming along with Spanish. I have really prayed to advance in the language and I know I have been blessed to learn faster than I ever could by myself.

This Thursday, we are going to baptize the brother of one of the member ladies that always gives us lunch and stuff. His name is Caesar and he is 21. We have only been teaching him a little while but he has really progressed. We also invited their younger brother Alberto (14) to get baptized but so far he is a little hesitant so we are going to focus on helping them this week.

Other than that all is well. Just some random things I don’t know if I have typed in a letter yet but we found this stand called Perro Lucho (Dog Fight) that makes these ridiculously huge hamburgers and hot dogs with tons of melted cheese and chicken and sauces and stuff all over. We have eaten there a few times but the last time we went, I ate a huge hot dog called the (perro Americano loco) crazy American hot dog) with fries and everything. I got my first case of stomach problems for a few days but now all is well so don’t worry mom :)

Also yesterday in church, Marta, Jose and Pablo got confirmed and they asked me to do it. I went up front to confer them with the Holy Ghost and gave the blessing for all three. It was a little scary but all went well.

Well everything else is good. Thanks for your letters every week. It’s always nice to have something to read from the family on P day. I’m about out of time but much love and you’re in my prayers. I will talk to you next week.

Elder B

Baptism Tomorrow

Will has now been in Colombia for two months. The time is going by really fast. We received a shorter e-mail today due to computer problems.

January 12, 2009

Hola Familia,
Well wow, I just typed a long email and when I sent it something messed up with the computer so it’s lost. Haha I’ll try to quickly re-type some of what I wrote.

This was a long week with lots of time in the street doing contacts and knocking on doors. We found another very good family. They said that they were looking for something to help their family and are very interested. They went to church on Sunday.

The papers were not ready fast enough for Marta and Jose to get married on Saturday, so it will be tomorrow. Ha they will get married at 5:30 and baptized at 7:00. They are very happy. Usually all the baptisms are on a Saturday so that we can collaborate with everyone else who has baptisms.

We find out about transfers tonight and chances are my companion is going to get transferred and leave Wednesday. He really wanted to see them get married and baptized so that should work out okay. It’s been great to see how much they have changed and been blessed through the gospel already.

One thing I thought of for the people we baptize, or other church members, is if I had little signs or pictures or something of Wyoming to give them. I think that would be a cool little remembrance.

It usually doesn’t rain very hard here and when it does we just keep going, ha I haven’t used my umbrella or rain coat yet.

The Spanish just keeps coming, you don’t really notice it changing, but then one day you look back several weeks and realize how much better it is. By now I have realized that I basically understand everything that is said. I feel very comfortable in conversing with everyone. We have really been blessed.

I'm glad that you have set up a blog page for me. That will be a good way to keep in touch with people. I was going to send pictures but I used all my time writing the other email that is now lost, sorry this is so short but I'm running out of time and I really have to go.

Thanks for everything - sorry I couldn’t write more but I'll talk to you next week.

Much love, Elder Barnard

New Year in Bucaramanga

We received Will's e-mail so late yesterday afternoon that we were starting to get worried. We found out that they had spent all of their Prep day helping a family prepare for baptism next week. Here are some excerpts from his letter.

January 5, 2009

Hola Family,

Thanks for the New Years letters and all the support. I hope it was a good New Year and all is well at home. It has been quite a week here so I’ll tell you a little before I answer a few of mom’s questions.

Earlier this week, the President traveled up and we had interviews. It was the first real interview I have had with him so I didn’t know what to expect. All went well, I told him I felt very grateful that I had Elder Amador for a trainer. He said that he was an excellent trainer. He also thought that I seem like a very "feliz" (happy) missionary. He thought the Spanish was coming very, very well.

The assistants also traveled up with the president and one of them, Elder Foote from St George, stayed at our apartment and went on “intercambios” with us. (ha I really don’t know the word for intercambio in English, but it’s when other missionaries go with you or you swap companions for a day). He has been out for 19 months. He went with us to a lesson with Marta and Jose, who we have been working with. They are a couple that are about 32 years old. They have two kids, Pablo (12) and Angie (6). They are a very nice humble family. They have always said they weren’t ready to get married officially. We had a great lesson and at the end, Elder Foote extended to them the invitation to get married and they said yes! It wasn’t exactly a resounding yes, but they both did say it, which is great. They took the first step which is a ton of progress.

Anyway, this was on Thursday. We set up a lesson for them Saturday night. Saturday after lunch, we started a fast for them. We went to teach them Saturday night and we had an amazing lesson with an incredible Spirit. We taught them about baptism and explained everything about the importance etc. and they accepted our invitation to get married this coming week and be baptized afterwards. They again said yes for sure, but that’s not the coolest part. Jose in general, isn’t a very serious person and we have never been able to get him to say a prayer. At the close of the lesson, we asked him to and he half heartedly agreed. During the prayer, he asked that his family could become closer and be blessed and then out of nowhere he started to cry. It really was amazing because you have to know this guy. He doesn’t take anything seriously and he felt the spirit so strong at that time and he knew it. I’m writing so much about this because I don’t usually have a lot of time to write in my journal and I want to remember this well. After the prayer, we told him how great it was to hear him pray and they both said they felt a wonderful feeling during the whole lesson. Marta was amazed at Jose. We basically walked home on clouds. It was really a testimony builder unlike any I have ever had, to see the power of the Spirit and how much this family has already changed.

To be baptized you are required to go to church three times. Marta and Jose already have, but Pablo, their son, had only been two times and he wants to be baptized with his parents. What we didn’t realize is that they only have a motorcycle so all four of them couldn’t go together. When Sacrament meeting started, we realized they still weren’t there so we went outside to call. Marta answered and told us they had waited to find a bus but they couldn’t, so Jose had been taking the kids a few blocks on the motorcycle, dropping them off and going back to get Marta to take her up to where the kids were. By the time we called them, they had done this 4 blocks at a time half way across the city and were almost to the church. We tried to get a taxi to go get them but they were already almost there. It was really an amazing act of faith. They have changed so much since we started working with them.

Today, we have been calling missionaries in other places and running around all day trying to get their paperwork completed so they can get married and afterwards baptized. We have already taught them about the temple and that they could go in one year after baptism. I really believe this is a family that will continue and be sealed together in the temple for los eternidades. So please pray that everything will work out this week and they can get married and baptized.