New President arriving next week

June 22, 2009
Dear Family.
Well it has been a hectic but amazing week. But first of all I want to wish a Happy Father’s day to Bill and Ben and Dad. It was father’s day here as well. I really have realized over the mission how blessed I have been to have such an amazing family and amazing parents. I could write on and on of all the reasons I am thankful for such an awesome dad but I’ll just keep it to thanks a ton y te amo papa.

So I said in my last letter that we had scheduled for me to travel and do interchanges with the missionaries but we thought we would be too busy and I would stay here. But as I thought and prayed about it, I really felt like I should go, so that’s what I did. Elder Corro stayed here with the secretaries. That’s one thing that is a little strange about being an AP is that you have to be alone sometimes to travel etc.

But the week was an amazing spiritual experience. I got up at 4 A.M. on Tuesday morning to go to the airport and head off on a flight to Barranca, known here as the "oven". Haha they don’t send American missionaries there to work but we can do interchanges. I got there early in the morning and the Zone Leaders picked me up at the airport. I worked with them the first day and the second day with another companionship that needed some assistance. Barranca is a city of about 300 thousand people. The economy is completely based on all the oil and refineries that are there. I can say it lives up to its name as far as the heat. Both days it was between 100 and 107 degrees and high humidity. But it was awesome, especially after a week of confinement in the office. We walked and did contacts and taught lessons all day in the blazing heat and found tons of investigators. I even did my first two baptismal interviews which was also cool. Haha it really was amazing. The water isn’t heated, but somehow the showers don’t even feel cold. As soon as you step out, you are sweating and they sleep with fans running all over the place but it was an awesome experience and I loved working there.

Since Pres Camargo is about to be released, he and sister Camargo are traveling through the mission and having little goodbye firesides with the missionaries. Thursday was the fireside in Bucaramanga so I traveled on a bus with the Elders from Barranca on Thursday morning to Bucaramanga to attend it.

Another great experience. I really grew to love the city and the people there and it almost felt like going home to be back in Bucaramanga. I even got to stay at the apartment in Real de Minas where I lived my first 5 months. It is amazing how you grow to love the people. I saw the guy who worked at the little store below the apartment and the door man and I was like excited to talk to them and see how they were doing. That night was the fireside with Pres. and Hna Camargo which was great. They bore their testimonies and thanked the missionaries etc. and then everyone sang a few hymns. He also had me conduct the meeting, which was my first time.

After that we headed back to the house and we planned and got ready for the day with the missionaries in my old area (who the Zone Leaders wanted me to work with). It was cool to see some of the old members and they even had a family home evening planned with Marta and Jose (the amazing family that we taught and baptized). It was great to see them and talk to them and see their progress. They have been very actively going to church every Sunday. Jose is getting ready to receive the Melchizedek priesthood; they are getting ready to go to the temple, hopefully in January. Their son Pablo just happened to be on a trip with the youth of the ward to do baptisms for the dead in Bogotá at the Temple. I can’t even say how happy it made me to see them active and all the blessings they have received. It really is amazing to remember the day we knocked on their door and they let us come in for a few minutes - and now to see where they have progressed.

Later that night, we had another amazing experience. I don’t know if you remember from my letters, but with Elder Araujo we taught a 16 year old girl named Angelica who had been going to church for over a year and really wanted to be baptized, but her mom ended up never letting her, despite us asking about 4 times. The missionaries had recently returned to visiting them because she still keeps going to church and they wanted to share another message and ask if the mom would now give permission. They were happy to see me because we had spent a lot of time teaching them and really got to know them. We shared a message about the covenant of baptism and then it came time to ask the mom...and both the missionaries looked at me. So I asked her if, having heard all of these things she would give her daughter permission to be baptized and join the church. She thought for a second and looked at Angelica... and then said yes! haha it was a miracle. We had taught them and fasted and tried so hard to get her to give permission and now months later, she actually said yes and I got to be there. We were all amazed, including Angelica but it was a really great spiritual experience. She will be baptized and join the church on July 4th. It shows that the Lord knows what he is doing and has his plans.

The next day I went back to Bogotá. Three gringos arrived and today we had a party for Pres Camargo’s birthday and it all went great. Answers to some questions. Elder Corro goes home in November. His family are all members. All of the Elders here went to the MTC in Bogotá. Pres Hacking gets here next week so we have a lot to do. The transfer will be quite an experience but I know we can do it.
The church is true, I know it, thanks for everything and I love you tons, love Elder B