HEY GUYS!
So, this week was a BLUR! It was jam packed of stuff. Well basically this whole transfer is FULL of stuff so before I know it, it will be 2016! Oh and another big thing that happened this week...like 2 days ago. Apparently, they are changing the time in the MTC from 2 weeks to 3 weeks so that means starting in March the release dates will be one week later. So I asked Sister Fischbeck about it and yes, I found out my leaving date. I've been told that it was July 14 and then July 22. But it turns out that it will be... August 5th! YAY!! So that means I gained about 3 weeks from the first one they told me. So I'm happy about that!
The new missionaries entered the field on Tuesday and we talked to them and helped out in the meeting. One Elder, Elder Jimenez from Guatemala, had a lot of problems with getting his visa so he ended up staying with us for 2 days. However, since he didn't have his visa he couldn't proselyte or teach at all. So, that was an interesting few days with him. And then yesterday, we had a fun experience too haha. So basically Sunday is "our day" to work hard because it's the only day where we can work in the field all day. We decided to aprovechar (sorry, don't remember how to say that) the sunlight and we went to the south part of our area. Our area is Calle 55-Calle 13. Starting at Calle 13 is the Bogota South Mission. The South mission is MUCH more dangerous than our mission. Like on a regular basis the Health Sec gets 3 calls a week about missionaries getting robbed. So have that little info in mind. We went to Calle 20 to visit a member and then contact because we have never worked in the South because we usually leave the office at 5:30/6PM. We were searching directions and were asking people for help (and then usually talked about the gospel with them). At about 7:15pm, we were talking to a lady about a direction and she FLIPPED OUT! She just went on and on about how it is SUPER dangerous where we were and that time of day. I mean the fact that ALL of the stores were closed helped her in making her point. She said that we stuck out like a sore thumb and that people were going to rob and kill us if we stayed in the area. Then she told a story of how 4 men robbed her just around the corner from where we were. Okay, so I knew that where we were is dangerous at night and we were about to leave to go more North after we found the address we were looking for. But she kept insisting that people were going to kill us and that we had to go NOW! Okay, so you also have to understand that in almost every one of my areas people have told me that it is dangerous because we are strangers and we stick out and usually it's not that bad. However, with the history of the South, we decided to take her advice. I mean, I wasn’t go to stick around just to prove her wrong. Someone probably would have robbed us, but I highly doubt they would have killed us. But I didn't want to risk it, haha. So she ended up paying a taxi for us to take us to a Transmilenio station because we didn't have much money on us. Oh yeah, and when we got off of the Transmilenio when we arrived in the South earlier, there were policemen constraining two guys and searching for their weapons and throwing them on the ground. I laughed and was like "Welcome to the South of Bogotá", haha. So, we will see what we do later on about that whole South situation at night.
Missionaries have been having a lot of feet problems. But REALLY weird problems. And alot of the results have been GIGANTIC feet, hahaha. But they are doing fine. No one went to the hospital this week. But I am working on cell phones and trying to save money with tiny detail stuff. But the small stuff has been costing us like 1.5 million pesos each month. So, I fixed that and now we are working on switching cell phone plans. And then I checked with Aetna on our insurance claims and we haven't received about a million pesos in reimbursements, so I am also working on getting that money back too. It's kinda fun finding and fixing problems, haha.
We have continued to look for apartments but nothing is really better than what we have for the price we have. I can't think of anything else that has happened this week. Hopefully, I will have some more stories about the field soon. But, I know that what we are preaching is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called by God to be His prophet in 1820. And I know that through him, the church of Jesus Christ was restored. I don't think there has been another period in my life where my faith has been tested so much. But, I know this is the church of Jesus Christ and I am a representative of Him with the priesthood authority of God. I love the mission so much! It's not easy, and it requires a lot of sacrifice, but it's the best decision I made in my life so far. I love you all! Thank you so much for your love and support. Estamos hablando! chaou!
Elder Richmond
Sorry...I don't have pictures this week. But I will start to take more again!
So, this week was a BLUR! It was jam packed of stuff. Well basically this whole transfer is FULL of stuff so before I know it, it will be 2016! Oh and another big thing that happened this week...like 2 days ago. Apparently, they are changing the time in the MTC from 2 weeks to 3 weeks so that means starting in March the release dates will be one week later. So I asked Sister Fischbeck about it and yes, I found out my leaving date. I've been told that it was July 14 and then July 22. But it turns out that it will be... August 5th! YAY!! So that means I gained about 3 weeks from the first one they told me. So I'm happy about that!
The new missionaries entered the field on Tuesday and we talked to them and helped out in the meeting. One Elder, Elder Jimenez from Guatemala, had a lot of problems with getting his visa so he ended up staying with us for 2 days. However, since he didn't have his visa he couldn't proselyte or teach at all. So, that was an interesting few days with him. And then yesterday, we had a fun experience too haha. So basically Sunday is "our day" to work hard because it's the only day where we can work in the field all day. We decided to aprovechar (sorry, don't remember how to say that) the sunlight and we went to the south part of our area. Our area is Calle 55-Calle 13. Starting at Calle 13 is the Bogota South Mission. The South mission is MUCH more dangerous than our mission. Like on a regular basis the Health Sec gets 3 calls a week about missionaries getting robbed. So have that little info in mind. We went to Calle 20 to visit a member and then contact because we have never worked in the South because we usually leave the office at 5:30/6PM. We were searching directions and were asking people for help (and then usually talked about the gospel with them). At about 7:15pm, we were talking to a lady about a direction and she FLIPPED OUT! She just went on and on about how it is SUPER dangerous where we were and that time of day. I mean the fact that ALL of the stores were closed helped her in making her point. She said that we stuck out like a sore thumb and that people were going to rob and kill us if we stayed in the area. Then she told a story of how 4 men robbed her just around the corner from where we were. Okay, so I knew that where we were is dangerous at night and we were about to leave to go more North after we found the address we were looking for. But she kept insisting that people were going to kill us and that we had to go NOW! Okay, so you also have to understand that in almost every one of my areas people have told me that it is dangerous because we are strangers and we stick out and usually it's not that bad. However, with the history of the South, we decided to take her advice. I mean, I wasn’t go to stick around just to prove her wrong. Someone probably would have robbed us, but I highly doubt they would have killed us. But I didn't want to risk it, haha. So she ended up paying a taxi for us to take us to a Transmilenio station because we didn't have much money on us. Oh yeah, and when we got off of the Transmilenio when we arrived in the South earlier, there were policemen constraining two guys and searching for their weapons and throwing them on the ground. I laughed and was like "Welcome to the South of Bogotá", haha. So, we will see what we do later on about that whole South situation at night.
Missionaries have been having a lot of feet problems. But REALLY weird problems. And alot of the results have been GIGANTIC feet, hahaha. But they are doing fine. No one went to the hospital this week. But I am working on cell phones and trying to save money with tiny detail stuff. But the small stuff has been costing us like 1.5 million pesos each month. So, I fixed that and now we are working on switching cell phone plans. And then I checked with Aetna on our insurance claims and we haven't received about a million pesos in reimbursements, so I am also working on getting that money back too. It's kinda fun finding and fixing problems, haha.
We have continued to look for apartments but nothing is really better than what we have for the price we have. I can't think of anything else that has happened this week. Hopefully, I will have some more stories about the field soon. But, I know that what we are preaching is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called by God to be His prophet in 1820. And I know that through him, the church of Jesus Christ was restored. I don't think there has been another period in my life where my faith has been tested so much. But, I know this is the church of Jesus Christ and I am a representative of Him with the priesthood authority of God. I love the mission so much! It's not easy, and it requires a lot of sacrifice, but it's the best decision I made in my life so far. I love you all! Thank you so much for your love and support. Estamos hablando! chaou!
Elder Richmond
Sorry...I don't have pictures this week. But I will start to take more again!