Week Nine Pictures

Breakfast for Dinner!

Week Nine

Hola Familia y Amigos,

 Today is officially the two months mark in the mission which is really weird. This week went by really fast. We had a giant two hour long leccion on Tuesday with Emma and Lina so they could get baptized on Saturday. Then Wednesday we had intercambios with the Zone Leaders. We spent the night at their apartment, we all talked about our families and friends and showed each other pictures from home. It was really fun..... but then my companion and I had to spend the night sleeping on really bad air mattresses.  I got about an hour of sleep but it was all ok because in the morning I got to take a hot shower!! I'd forgotten that those were a thing!  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

  I had the chance to be companions with Elder Sorbonne  he's awesome, it was a really fun day. Thursday we had a follow up appointment with Emma and Lina for their Baptisms. Then Friday was reuniones de zona y distritu but also interviews with the Presidente. That was really fun, I have an awesome Mission Presidente! Then Saturday came, we did our studies, had lunch with a member family and then went over and got Emma and Lina for their Baptisms. We filled out paper work for about an hour and then we took a bus to the church. Then I got to Baptize Lina on her Birthday, it was on of my favorite moments so far, it was also amazing to see Emma be baptized at the age of 88.  It was super spiritual. Then Sunday came, we were in the Chapel and Sacrament started and Emma and Lina were not there, but they were supposed to get confirmed. Sacrament meeting just kept going and about halfway through I prayed that they would be able to make it and be Confirmed Members of the Church. For some reason sacrament meeting ended up going 15 minutes longer than usual, and right before we were about to sing the closing hymn, Emma and Lina walked in and were confirmed. It was a miracle, I was so happy for them.
                                                                                                                                       Later that night we had a leccion with a progressing investigator the Garzon Familia. We watched Meet The Mormons and then talked about how members of the church are just regular normal people. It was especially cool becuase the Garzons have a son serving in Chile right now and we were able to talk about Missionary work a lot. Then we forgot we didn't ride our bikes there and we had to run a mile to get to our house by 9:30. Then today for P day we just chilled in our house.  We cleaned, went and ate lunch, watched Joseph Smith The Restoration, and took naps. Then we ate ice cream two different times before we came to write!
                                                                                                                                                  Thank you guys for all the prayers. I love and miss you all and hope you're all doing well!

    

Elder McBride

Week Eight Pictures

Week eight

Hola familia y amigos!!

This week was a lot of fun. It was super hot the first couple days in the 100s but then it poured down rain for  2 days straight and I never thought I would miss the rain, but I did and it was glorious. We had a ton of lecciones this week, it was honestly kind of insane. We taught the first leccion probably about 20 times this week, and we got 18 new investigators which is amazing. The people here are the best, everyone is just super nice all the time. We have lunch with members everyday, and I just love getting to know them and talk with them. We got to do service for one family in the ward, familia Ortiz, and we moved a giant, old, rusty, fridge and it was a ton of fun. When we finished moving the fridge we found a giant toad where the fridge had been, my comp Elder Araujo picked it up and had me touch it, it was pretty nasty. One morning I also found a giant cockroach in our house so me and my companion chased it around with a broom for 10 minutes until we got it out of the house. We also don't have a washing machine so every Thursday we call this guy and he brings us a washing machine, it's really cool he just hauls it up the stairs, we use it for a couple hours and then he comes and takes it back.

The people we teach are amazing. We're teaching this super sweet old lady Emma, and her grandaughter Lina. Emma is 88 years old and lina is 12. They live 30 minutes away from us by bike so it's always a trek out there, but they were at church this Sunday and they came up and told us they want to be baptized this week! We're super excited for them, the only problem is they don't have very many lecciones so this Tuesday we're going to have a giant 2 hour long leccion with all the lecciones so they can get baptized this Saturday! Also our neighbor, Jorge, fixed our toilet so we don't have to use our hands to flush it anymore! 

Then this Sunday we had the the most unusual couple of lecciones. First we had a leccion with a referencia familia. The leccion went great but their 3 month old dog had been sick for a while and it ended up dying during our leccion. It was really sad and upsetting to see them upset. We helped clean up and get the dog ready to be buried. Then we had another leccion with someone  we met while contacting. His name is Jorge Gutierrez and he let us in and we had an amazing first leccion, the spirit was so strong. He accepted a book of mormon and said he'd read the whole thing. He was wearing a Colombia soccer team jersey and had a bunch of posters of the team on the wall and while we were leaving I asked him what team it was and where I could buy a jersey because I wanted to purchase one. Then he just walks into another room and gives me a brand new jersey! It was insane, just randomly an investigator in the first leccion just gave me a brand new jersey. The people here honestly might be the nicest people on earth, I love everyone we talk to they are all just amazing people. Then today Elder Araujo and I went and hung out with our Zonde leaders Elder Mohr from Texas and Elder Sorbonne from Utah. We went and ate amazing mexican food and then my companion  bought us all ice cream. Then my companion and I went shopping so we finally have a full fridge, it's a beautiful sight! Then Elder Araujo and I watched the restoration movie in our apartment while I ate an entire oreo sleeve. It was an awesome week. And one funny thing, the two biggest things down here in Colombia is Crocs and Minions. Everyone has crocs and everyone loves the minions here, it's hilarious. I hope next week will be as great as this week! Thank you guys for all the prayers and I hope you're all doing well. Love and miss you all!

Elder McBride

Week Seven Pictures

Pictures from CCM, Mission President,and Jared in first apartment in Bogota Sur

Week Seven

Hola Familia y Amigos!!

I'm officially done with my first week in the field! It went really good. We have bikes here and we bike all over the place, one day we biked 35 minutes just one way to a leccion, it was crazy! Also we bike in the streets and the cars here are crazy, so that's pretty fun. We had a lot of leccions this week and my español actually wasn't completely terrible. I am able to communicate pretty well with the people here. We have a bunch of cool investigators that are making a lot of progress and that's great to see. We have a couple of Baptisms set up for the upcoming weeks so that should be pretty fun. It is really hot here, like super hot all the time, and It's taking me a little time to get used to it, but I'm sure I'll be used to it with time. The members here are so cool, we always have lunch with members Tuesday- Sunday and the food here is amazing(except when I got tap water lemonade yesterday, that was awful my body did not like that) The people here are so nice and I love them all already. The ward is really sweet, there's about 100 members and this Sunday was awesome. Sacrament meeting was really good, and we had an leccion the next hour about misionary work that was amazing. Then my companion and I, Elder Araujo, taught a little leccion to the aaronic priesthod kids. This week was also really awesome because we got to give 3 blessings: Two to little kids, and one to a lady in the hospital. It was hard giving the start of the blessing each time but it was a really spiritual experience. 

Then today was my first p-day in the field! We cleaned our apartment and then we went and played soccer with a bunch of the other missionaries, it was insanely hot. We only played for one hour because everyone was dying. Afterwards, we went with the zone leaders and got burgers, which was great because the only food I have in the apartment is granola, eggs, and ramen! Then my companion  and I went back to our apartment and we looked at each others pictures. It was a really good day, and a really good week too! I'm really happy that I get to be here and serve the people of Colombia!

Thanks for all the prayers! I miss all of you guys!

Adios!

Elder McBride

P.S. Our toilet doesn't work so you have to reach in and do it manually with your hand! 

Week six pictures from Jared and the Mission Presidents wife

Last week at CCM

Arriving at Bogota Sur

Week six

Hola familia y amigos!!

I am officially out of the CCM and am in the field. The last week in the CCM was really cool and went really fast. It was hard to say goodbye to all my friends but I know we will all be out doing what we're supposed to be doing.  Yesterday I got to say goodbye at 1:30 am, 2:30 am, and 3:30 am which was really tiring. Then the Bogota Sur Elders all got on a bus and went to immigration. Then we went and met our Mission  President in this really nice park where President Kimball dedicated the country of Colombia for Missionary work. Then we went to the Mission home which is in the nicest neighborhood in all of Bogota. We all had our interviews with then President in Spanish, I did okay, actually my Spanish is coming along pretty quickly. Then we got to meet our trainers. My trainer is Elder Araoyo, he is from Brazil and he is one of the coolest guys.  He likes Marvel movies and all kinds of sweet music. We all ate Papa Johns,  yes there is Papa Johns here, and then we left for our areas.  The Bogota Sur mission has two areas and basically they are hot and cold, and of course, I'm in the hot area. My area is in the city of Villavicencio, I think that's how it's spelled.  It is always hot here and it's going to take a little getting used to. We also have bikes in our area which is a little crazy because most areas in Colombia don't have bikes but I guess all that BMXing is going to pay off!  Our area is three plus hours away from Bogota so we didn't get here till after midnight and I'm super tired haha but it's all good.  I already had lunch with an awesome family today, they were so nice and I could actually understand most of what was being said. It's also super cool because they were baptized by my friend from the CCM's older Brother.  We have some lessons tonight and I'm really excited to get started and I will also be looking forward to taking a cold shower everyday!  We went shopping today and that was pretty fun.  Everything here is super cheap. I bought about 30 eggs so I'm going to be eating eggs for breakfast and dinner from now on.                                                                                                                                               

 Love and miss you guys. Thanks for all the prayers and I hope you're all doing well!

Elder McBride