June 15. 2009

Will, with suit coat off, and some Elders in Bogota.

June 15, 2009
Hola fam.
All is well in Bogotá and it's been another great week. We have been very busy as usual but this week has been a little more relaxed. I can’t believe it is another P day. We have spent lots of time in the Mission Office getting everything ready for the new president and working on various projects that we do there. We also spent a day with president Camargo in Chia (suburb of Bogotá) while he did interviews with the missionaries there. I have finally had some time to really study and put some good time into Preach my Gospel and the scriptures. I have made the goal to read Preach my Gospel again from cover to cover before the end of the month so I have been putting whatever little bit of free time I can into that. We also have computers in the office so I looked up some talks about Leadership and Charity today. (Elder Corro and I made the goal to pick attributes every week to work on and study and improve so we chose those two. I have been learning a lot of great things and working hard to become a good leader and have lots of charity which also has a lot to do with being humble.

Elder Foote’s parents flew in last night to pick him up (he’s going home) and spend a few days in Colombia. So Elder Corro and I went to the airport and picked them up and took them to a hotel to spend the night. This morning we picked them up with a church driver and took them to the Presidents’ house to see Elder Foote and have lunch with President Camargo and his family. They are very nice, very humble people and we had a good time talking. haha We had them waiting inside and then they brought Elder Foote in and they hugged and cried and laughed and all that good stuff. Then they took Elder Foote out for a minute so Pres and Sis Camargo could talk to the parents and they had me come in to be the translator. They both expressed thanks and Pres. Camargo told them what a great example and missionary Elder Foote was. After we had a good lunch that Sister Camargo made and then we took them all to the hotel so they will spend today and tomorrow seeing Bogotá and go home on Thursday.

Also in other news, I gave a talk in church yesterday which went well and we had a good chance to work in our area Sat. and Sunday. This week we had scheduled that I would go to Barranca (the hottest place on earth) and Bucaramanga until Saturday and work with different missionaries, which had me really excited to get to know Barranca and go back to Bucaramanga, but it looks like we are going to be too busy this week here to be able to. We will make the final decision tonight on what is better.

I really like to get out with the other missionaries and work in the field but we are needed to organize things here in the office. The time is flying by (snowballing) and it goes faster and faster every week it seems. Tomorrow there will be transfers in the mission so we will call all the Zone Leaders tonight to tell them who is being transferred to other areas. It was really cool to work with President Camargo and see how he does the transfers. There are new missionaries arriving this week and there will be new Trainers pretty soon.

It really is humbling to see that president Camargo trusts in us so much, I still feel sometimes like I am walking in shoes a few sizes too big because there are so many missionaries that are so great, but I have also found the truth that to be a leader you need to put himself below all others (humble). Dad used to say that you can’t choose what time (or place) you are given; you can only choose what you do with that time and what you make out of it. That is really helpful to me.

My testimony grows every week and I know challenges help us. I know the church is true and I love it. Thanks for everything you do to support me and for your love and prayers.
Much Love, Elder Barnard