March 30, 2009

Scenes from Bucaramanga




Hola Family,
All is great here in Bucaramanga. It has been a beautiful week with lots of little showers all week which equals more shade and cooler (which equals good).

We have had a successful week finding various people who seem to be very interested in our message. One of them is a 19 year old girl named Laura and her Mom. After writing you last week she asked us who we were so we introduced ourselves. She asked me where I was from and was amazed to be talking to a Gringo. She asked me if she could practice English for a second, so I answered a few of her broken English questions and she thought it was quite cool. She asked if we could stop by her house and explain better what we do so we have visited them twice this week. Both she and her mom seem very intrigued by our message and we are excited to keep teaching them.

It is hard to believe but yet again another cambio (transfer) has almost passed. Next Monday night the assistants will call and tell us who is going and who is staying. Ha I don’t think I will start packing my suitcases yet but it is almost a sure thing I will be transferred somewhere else. But I won’t know until after my next letter so that can be talked about later.

I really liked what mom and dad said about preparing the harvest in your letters. Sometimes missionaries get caught up in how many baptisms they have and forget the importance of preparing people and real conversion. I know I probably won’t see the end result with the people we are working with now or if they become converted or not so this week. This is a good chance for me to forget about my own results and try to help prepare these people so that hopefully if I leave they can reap the "harvest" blessings later.

Yesterday at church my comp and I spoke. The bishop told us we could pick whatever topic so I spoke on Prayer. I talked about 3 important parts of prayer, that we pray "at all times, in all things and all places (D&C 6:36), that we ask in faith (James 1:5-6) and that we are ready and know how to recognize the answer. With the last point I shared the experience that had happened with Marta and Jose a few months ago and how our prayers were answered. It went well and one sister told me after that I was "La persona clave de mi dia" and it was a message she needed to hear. So I felt very good about the talk and I know the spirit testified through my gringo accented Spanish to help her.

Now for your questions... I don’t think I have put on any weight – everything fits loosely - but I really don’t have access to a scale. We have been going to a soccer field every other day to run a mile and doing exercise in the house the alternate days so I think I’m staying in pretty good shape. I got the parcel with the two books and the candy. I took a few peeks at the book about preparation and it seems to have some awesome stuff. There is Jell-O here, cool whip I haven’t seen yet but pasta, yes there is plenty. We do have a cake pan but I couldn’t tell you if it is 9 by 13.
Well all I can say is thanks for all of the support. I know I always say the same stuff but I really am grateful for the family I have, especially as I see more and more how family life is in many cases here. The majority of the South American elders here were raised by single mothers or are converts of a few years and it really makes one think about all we have.
But again thanks for everything, the church is true, hasta next week. Love Elder Barnard