colombia-cali mission: February 2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012

How do I love thee...

33 years ago, on Valentine's Day, we were married.

How do I love thee...

....enough to get up at 5am and go to the airport

to say goodbye to Elder Christian Calderón.

and then spend 3 hours at the downtown market

followed by 3 hours of missionary interviews
(of course handing out chocolates and valentine stickers)

and an evening of missionary phone calls.

How do I love thee...

more each day

through every experience on our journey

to eternity.

We have finished interviews with 4 zones
San Fernando, Villa Colombia, Calima, and Palmira

In Palmira we went to the zone leaders house to interview

Elders Jensen and Galeano.

Elder Galeano arrived with our 25 new missionaries and 2 days into his

mission he ended up in the hospital for 5 days.

He is now having a nurse visit 4 times a day at their apartment to give injections.

After 7 days of this he is hopeful to really get started on his mission.

I love these faithful missionaries.

Our zone leaders, Elder Coria (pictured here on the right)

and Elder Tauese (out with missionaries)

have been amazing as they have loved and taken care of this great new missionary

Friday we had Zone Leader Counsel.

We now have 9 new zone leaders who are excellent missionaries and love serving the Lord.

Elders Coria, Smuin, Stutz, Alfaro, Rocha

Moscol, Flores, Garcia, and Cachi

A day of training, spiritual feasting, and planning.

These great zone leaders are the future leaders of the kingdom!

24 Zone Leaders + 2 Assistants + 1 President + 1 Sister Prince = one long day well done!
I LOVE being with these missionaries!!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Until we meet again....

2 year ago parents anxiously sent their sons off to the faraway

Colombia Cali Mission

in hopes that they would be taken care of by people they did not know.

This morning I sent off 14 missionary sons to homes faraway

to be taken care of by people I do not know

....but I KNOW they are good people

because they have raised incredible sons!

"and they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all--they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before Him." Alma 53:20-21

Each time it gets harder...there was NO training for saying goodbye without crying

...not sure I will ever learn.