Saturday, June 23, 2012

What we do in our spare time...

This past week was a free week, so what did we do...

Monday - it was Festivo in Colombia...so we had a day of work in the office trying to organize files, etc for the Medellín mission. A skype session with the new mission president and his wife to present a few of his missionaries to them.  A missionary with a belated confession who had to go home.  And my dad's wife, Connie, had a double masectomy at the age of 88...so our prayers and thought's were with her.  (the surgery went very well)

Tuesday - attended a lesson with the sister missionaries in Limonar in the afternoon and then we went with the Granjas Elders in the evening to attend a discussion.  Both couples were struggling with receiving testimonies.  I saw very clearly that the key was reading the Book of Mormon.  The missionaries did a great job teaching in both situations.

Wednesday - we drove to Buenaventura to visit with Elders Rivera and Patino.  They are the first missionaries to open the city of Buenaventura.  They are living in a hotel and trying to find a place to live. 
This is our first visit to Buenaventura.  Buenaventura is the largest port city on the Pacific for the country of Colombia.  It is a large city, but there is a lot of poverty.  It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive to the coast.  It was a beautiful drive, but a lot of construction on the roads.  Someday it will be a lovely drive.
There are about 4 families that belong to the church in Buenaventura and to attend church they have to drive about 2 1/2 hours into Cali each Sunday.  They have now formed a group where they can hold Sacrament meeting in the home of a member.  

We had lunch with the Rodriguez Family
Hermana Rodriguez prepared large fresh shrimp that were excellent.

We hurried back to Cali so Elder Rivadeneira (who went with us to work on a housing contract) could baptize an investigator.  We had an appointment in the Israel Ward with the Elders there and getting there was nothing more than white knuckle adventure on the streets of Cali and finding our way.  Just another day in Cali.

Thursday - The morning was filled with shopping at the Galeria for groceries and looking at apartments with the Elders.  This evening we had 2 sets of missionaries and their investigators to the house for a discussion.  Then we ended up driving the investigators to their houses to save them the bus or taxi fare.

Friday - This morning they arrived at 7:30am to remove furniture, paint, knock out a cabinet in the hall and redo some wiring.  It sounded like a construction site.  The new sofas and chairs were delivered at about 10am...without the end tables.  Somehow we will figure out when to look for them!  Amidst all this, Ana and I made Ajiaco for lunch and invited some of the workers.  At 2:30pm we headed out for Armenia (3 hours away) arriving in time to speak at a couples fireside, help serve dinner, do interviews, and watch the dance.



Saturday - In this mission we baptize...We made it to Palmira for the Noche Blanca.
President Prince was asked to baptize Rodrigo.  It was a wonderful evening with the missionaries, members, and investigators.



Now on to the busy weeks....


Saturday, June 16, 2012

Sisters...

When I was young, I used to sing a song called "Sisters" from the movie White Christmas.
I always dreamed of having a sister...
a lot of very good girlfriends filled that role in my life.
But some of the lyrics of this song are so fitting for the sister missionaries...

"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..."

"never had to have a chaperone, NO SIR, I'm there to keep my eye on her!"

Caring...sharing...
The sister missionaries amaze me.  They are here not out of duty, but out of love and desire.
They are here in spite of physical challenges that many have.
They are the pure love of Christ and share that with everyone!

It was hard to say good bye to these 5 sisters...
Hermanas Valencia, Sanchez, Talquenca, Lopez, and Rojas.

Our June group of missionaries finishing their missions
included Elder Asmat and Elder Franco as well.

Well done my good and faithful servants!!
Training (n.) trey'ning
the education, instruction, or discipline
of a person or thing that is being trained

The new missionaries received a day of training...
it was like trying to drink from a fire hose!
So much to learn and remember,
for this reason we have wonderful trainers.

 
and behind the scenes
are the exhausted office secretaries
who helped prepare for all this training
(along with the early morning transfers of other missionaries!)

 


Friday, June 15, 2012

A House Divided


On Tuesday, June 12 the New Missionaries arrived
Elders (12) and Sisters (3)
FINALLY we had some new sisters arrive!
Arriving from 8 different countries
(we now have 18 countries represented in the Colombia Cali mission)

Sister Richardson has the honor of being our first missionary from Panama


BUT
of these 15 new arrivals
6 will belong to the new Colombia Medellín mission
(I am sure that is an equatable division since they get 3 of the sisters!)

Changes in the roster have been made and now we are just waiting for the Changing of the Guard...still a lot to do before that day...and forever they will all hold a place in our hearts as "our missionaries".

A quick trip to Cristo Rey

 June 2012 group
 His arms are stretched out still...
 Elder Vera...soon to be leaving for the Medellín mission!
Just hanging out!

and then Elder Cartagena arrived from the United States...

just in time for the pizza party
 

and then we were off to a baptism to end our day...

Congratulations Hermano Dario! 

Welcome to the Colombia Cali mission...we are here to
"invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the
restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement,
repentance,baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost,
and enduring to the end."


Sunday, June 10, 2012

The BIG Question....

On July 1st the new Colombia Medellín mission will be formed.
The BIG question in the mission right now is

Will I be going to the Medellín mission
or
will I stay in the Cali mission?

This is "Change Week" in the Mission. 
The changes this week will determine which mission our missionaries will be in.
It has been VERY difficult for President Prince to make these changes.
It is even harder for Sister Prince to think about giving up some of her missionaries.

The ANSWER to the Question is:
I'll go where you want me to go!

The Lord is at work in HIS vineyard.
We just finished 2 full weeks of mission interviews which equals 20 loaves of Banana Bread!
From Medellín to Ipiales the missionaries are in basically good health, happy for having talked with their moms on mothers day, and doing an amazing job as servants of the Lord, Jesus Christ.