Sunday, October 28, 2018
Mission update pictures
Mission update
The last two months of Elder McBrides mission he was working in the mission offices in Bogota and undergoing medical treatment. He was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and has knee and back pain. The doctors in Bogota felt he needed to come home for further treatment. Before he left for home Jared was able to fly with his mission president to Leticia one of his favorite areas. Jared has been home a month and has seen many doctors and continues to improve. Unfortunately their is no quick fix so Jared will not be going back to Colombia and has been honorably released from his mission.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Week 60: Mexican food and Fat Mona Lisa!
Hola familia y amigos!
This week went by really fast. We did a lot of work in the offices. A bunch of the same stuff, paying bills/pensionistas. I also worked with Élder Willes in the Migration part this week. We're going through all the old missionary files physically and digitally. It takes a really long time, but it was actually pretty fun. We also found a really good Mexican restaurant that is really good. Today we went to some of the museums here in Bogota which was really cool: They had a museum about how Colombian currency(specifically coins) started, a Museum of Modern(ish) art, and also a Museum featuring Colombia's most famous artist, Fernando Botero, who paints really fat people. My personal favorite is the fat Mona Lisa. Also after visiting the Museums, we went and had brunch at this really good place called the Ugly American. They had pancakes and omelettes and it was amazing. I miss American breakfast food! haha That’s about it for this week! I love and miss you guys! Always remember to put Christ at the center of your life!
¡Nos vemos!
Élder McBride
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Week 59: Pictures
We have a fireplace in our apartment but not always electricity!
Week 59: IM IN THE SYSTEM!!!
Hola familia y amigos!
I honestly don't remember what day it was the last time we wrote but that's alright! Life is crazy in the offices. We are always working and there is always stuff to do. We were changing a bunch of things with Pensionistas starting this month and so we've been working a lot with that. I spent a whole day doing that and transferring old information, gathering the new information from the missionaries, and then making new spreadsheets so we keep all the new information and start working with that. I did a fair amount of reembolsos this week. It´s a little hard sometimes because I always have missionaries calling me wanting to know where their money is!haha. A lot of them just don't understand how the money works in the mission and that we just have free cash to give them all the time.
We always have people staying in our house too. Whenever anyone is here for medical reasons or any other thing they always come stay at our house and it gets a little crazy. We work some pretty crazy hours here in the offices. Sometimes we have to be here at like 6:00 am and then other days we don't leave till after midnight haha. It all depends on what's going on in the mission and I honestly really like it. I miss being out in the field walking and contacting but this is just a new way to do missionary work for me. It's also cool to always be around Presidente Palhua, He's super cool and I really like him.
Other fantastic news I am finally in the system! To enter our offices you have to scan your fingerprint and all that good stuff and for the first while I was just going in as a guest. Being a guest always takes super long sitting in the line and it gets old.haha However this week they finally put me in the system!! woohoo! It's the small things in life. That's basically it for me.
I love and miss you guys and I love this Gospel and I'm so grateful for the privilege that I have to serve as a missionary here in Colombia!
Les Extraño!
Élder McBride
Week 58: Late nights, PF Chang’s,and Octopus?
This past week was pretty crazy. First off Monday. We get to the offices at 7:00 in the morning, we did some work, we got to go to the CCM to pick up some new plaques for missionaries and I got to see my old CCM President, President Hansen and his wife that was super fun. Then we went to the airport to get a missionary that was coming to the CCM. Then we went back to the offices and ended up working for a really long tim. We had some emergency stuff happen so we ended up staying in the offices until 3:00 am! Then Tuesday we went back to the airport to pick up another missionary from the airport. I did a lot of financial stuff this week, I'm learning how to do everything . Most of it is pretty easy, but it's all pretty time consuming. Then Wednesday was pretty fun, we worked in the offices and then we went to lunch and I got a caesar salad...with Octopus! Honestly I thought it was going to be really bad, but I actually kind of liked it!
Then Thursday Élder Willes and I had a 5 hour meeting with someone from the general offices talking about Immigration and finances. Then at like 9:30 pm when we were leaving the offices we got a call that we had to buy some emergency plane tickets...so we ended up in the offices again until like 2 am! Then Friday we were at the offices again at 8:00 am to continue our meeting with the general offices. We were super, super tired so we both ended up sleeping a little bit on the floor of the offices. We had lunch on Friday at PF Changs, I did not know that PF Changs was here in Colombia but apparently they are and it was really good.
Then we had to wait in the offices while some missionaries had medical appointments and for a missionary to come stay with us. Then this morning Élder Willes and I had to get up at like 5ish to go to the airport with some missionaries who were going home, we were at the airport until noon and yeah that's it! Working in the offices is pretty crazy. I'm super tired but that's alright! Still learning more things with the finances and I'm excited to keep learning more. It's a little weird to be in the offices all the time and not out doing normal missionary things but I've learned it's just another way that I can serve the Lord because without me no one would have lunch, water, electricity, or gas! I hope you're all doing well! Love you guys!
Élder McBride
Friday, August 31, 2018
Week 57: Pictures
Pictures from Mission on the Fly package delivery
Week 57: The Secret Life of a Financial Secretary
Hola Familia y amigos!
Nos Vemos!
Élder McBride
This week was pretty crazy. Sunday was cool. Church was super good, we had lunch with this really awesome family, la familia Chacon. They're really young and just super nice. The husband served a mission a couple years ago and they have a super cute dog named Alaska, I pet Alaska a bunch that day. Also Élder Willes and I were contacting in a park and we weren't having a lot of success until we started contacting people with dogs! We asked them about their dog first so they would actually talk to us and then one of us would pet the dog and the other would contact the person and then we would switch off and it was super fun!
Then Monday was crazy. Élder Willes and I had to get to the offices at 6:30 to give some missionaries who were going to Leticia some documents and we ended up in the offices from 6:30 in the morning until 11:00 at night doing work, that was a long day! Then Tuesday we did more work in the offices and went to Migrations! Wednesday was also a lot of work. I'm learning how everything works. We have to pay pensionistas, reimburse missionaries, pay bills for the houses, do a report on the mission credit card and President and his wife's card and it's a ton of work. We also have to work with a bunch of banks and the church and the church is implementing a new system to do the credit cards but it still isn't up yet so that's causing us some problems. Then Thursday we had to go to Migrations again, we were there for a good minute and then we ended up in the offices super late again. I did the reimbursements for the entire zone, Tunjuelito, and that took like 2-3 hours which was pretty crazy, I finished it at like 8:30ish. We were planning on going home, but then we get a call telling us that Élder Luedtke was coming up to Bogotá from Ibagué! So we went and got him at the terminal and now he's with us! He got here at about 11ish so it was another late night. The offices are so much different than any other part of the mission, it's a ton of work and there's always stuff that comes out of the blue, it's crazy but I love it!
Then Friday was my 20th Birthday! Crazy it's already my second Birthday in the mission! We did some more financial work finished up the credit card report for the month and then we went to a super nice restaurant called Harry Sasson. The chef is known as like the best chef in Colombia and his restaurants are world-famous. I got a super good Porter house steak that I shared with Élder Miller. It's for like 2-3 people and it was amazing, Élder Willes ate it all on his own which was pretty impressive. Then today I officially have 13 months in the mission which is crazy, feels like I just got here. The time is flying by! I'm excited for where the upcoming months will take me. Tomorrow before church we're going to have a baptism in the ward which is going to be awesome! I love and miss you guys a ton! I hope you're all doing well! Now as Financial Secretary, I feel obliged to relate finances to the gospel so I would like to share with you a scripture in theNew Testament.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Élder McBride
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Week 56: Pictures
View from my Apartment
Week 56: It’s not about the money money money!!
Hola familia y amigos! Como están?
Yep this email is coming at ya hot on a Saturday! It's because today is my P-day! Now I know what you're all thinking, P-day is always Monday! Well not anymore! I actually don't have an official p-day anymore! It's just whenever I have time, this week it just happens to be Saturday. Now this is happening because I am going to be the next Financial Secretary of our mission. That is why I was emergency transferred to Bogotá. I'm here with Élder Miller(The current Finance secretary) and Élder Willes(the current Migration secretary). We are in a trio while Élder Miller teaches me all the stuff I´m in charge of. Basically I'm in charge of all the money in the mission. I'll handle the Mission's credit cards, I'll do all the "Reembolsos" or Reimbursments of all the missionaries in the mission, and I also cover all the "Pensionistas" who are the people that feed the missionaries lunch. It's going to be pretty hard but I'm excited to start learning. I did some Reembolsos the other day, not super hard but it takes forever, I was doing it for like 4 hours haha. I also paid some Pensionistas which was cool too. I'll be learning more as the weeks go along, that's why I'm here with Élder Miller he's going to teach me how to do everything.
Secretaries always have emergency transfers like this because you have to get trained how to do your new job It's not like normal when you can just leave an area and then go to the next one. So over the next couple of weeks I'll be basically studying and learning how to do this job! I'm pretty excited, even though it is a little different. I'll be working in a office almost always, we work in the mission offices( Mom I work at the address where you send the packages) in the North of Bogotá, our apartment isn't even in our mission; we live in the north mission. We don't even really have a schedule, one day we left the offices at 11pm because we had a ton of work! It'll be a little hard to adapt but I'm excited for the change! Honestly that's about it, I went to migraciones a lot with Élder Willes because we're in charge of getting all the Cedula's and Passports and all that good stuff. It's nice to be cold again! I've been wearing a jacket and it feels kinda weird honestly!haha. The food here is super good too! We went to the Hard Rock in Bogotá and I had Mac & Cheese for like the first time in a year! haha.
I also was in the offices when the mission on the fly service came so I got my package hand-delivered to me! Thanks Mom and Dad! My companion Élder Willes is literally in charge of all the packages in the mission so I'll always get my packages Mom! Well that's all from this week! I love and miss you guys! Hope you're all doing well!
Les Extraño mucho!
Élder McBride
Week 55: In Bogota!
Hola familia y amigos!
So this week was pretty weird...I got emergency transferred to Bogotá. I'm currently in a trio with Elder Willes and Elder Miller up here in Cuidad Jardin. Honestly that was like the only thing that happened this week. The mission has really weird weeks like these sometimes, mostly traveling and stuff like that. Even with all the crazy stuff happening I got to talk with the Taxista's about the Church and the Book of Mormon. I got a reference for some missionaries in our mission from a taxi driver that had been listening to the missionaries but had moved. As missionaries and as members we always have the opportunity to share the gospel wherever and whenever! We always need to take advantage of our opportunities to share the gospel with others! I miss you guys I hope you're all doing well!
Elder McBride
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Week54: The Book of Mormon
Hola familia y amigos!
This week was a little weird, not a whole bunch happened. First off Marco,Jacqueline, and Santiago didn't get baptized this Saturday, which was really tough. They were all ready and excited to be baptized but then lots of personal problems happened all at once in their lives and they decided to postpone their baptisms for an undisclosed period of time. It's hard to see them make this decision, but we're going to keep doing what we can to help them.
Secondly, I decided to start reading The Book of Mormon(pero es español) from the beginning and highlight everytime it talks about God and Jesus Christ. I started last Wednesday and I finished it this Wednesday, It was an amazing experience. I love the Book of Mormon! It truely is another testament of Jesus Christ. I can't remember a page where I didn't highlight something or someone taking about our Savior and Redeemer. Like the Bible, The Book of Mormon is sacred scriptures inspired from God. As we read the words and testimonies of the prophets of the ancient Americas and as we pray and ask god if it's true we come to know by the power of the holy ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he is our Savior and Redeemer, and thanks to him we can one day return and live with our father in heaven. We understand more clearly the covenants we make at baptism and understand more clearly the age of when someone is baptized, we learn that the fall of Adam and Eve was a step forward in God's plan of happiness for all of us, we learn that Christ ministered to the people of the ancient america's after his resurrection. Thanks to the Book of Mormon we can know that God called prophets and God still calls prophets, because he called young Joseph Smith to be a prophet, to translate the Book of Mormon and now he's called Russell M. Nelson to be the Prophet on the Earth today.
If you've already read the Book of Mormon before, I urge you to continue reading the Book of Mormon, and If you haven't read the Book of Mormon I invtie you to start reading it, meet with the missionaries, and pray and ask God if it's true. I testify that it is, and it will bless your life and the life of your family like nothing else in this world can. I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to share this message with the people of Colombia. I love and miss you guys!
Elder McBride
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Week 53: Pictures
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| The district ( Elder De Lama, Hna Chavez, Hna Francisco, and me) |
Estrella’s Batism
Week 53: Burned shirt, Baptisms,Floods and bad food
Hola familia y amigos!
This last week was pretty crazy. First we started off with meetings Tuesday, then we went and visited a girl named Estrella. She's 9 years old and she was preparing to get baptized with the other missionaries but they left so we took over teaching her. Most of her family are members and it was cool to get to meet here and her family.
Wednesday I officially hit 1 Year in the mission(which is pretty crazy) The day started off with our house flooding because the washing machine went crazy so we spent a good part of the morning getting all the water out of the house and drying the floor! We had some good lecciones that day and at night we burned one of my shirts and ordered some really bad food, and I felt sick afterwards.
Thursday we had the English class again and had a really good leccion with Ricaute, he's really funny! In the leccion he said "muchas personas dicen que son super-varones pero son super-tontos” which means there's a bunch of people who think they're superman but they're really just super dumb. Then Friday we did some baptismal interviews for Estreally and Marco and got everything ready for their baptisms. The plan was 4 baptisms but on Saturday but we got a call that Marco was really sick, we went over to his house and he almost had to go the hospital. So we only had Estella's baptism, Marco, Santiago, and Jacqueline will be baptized this Saturday! I'm so excited for them! Sunday we went to their house with the bishop and talked about their baptism and how we're going to help Marco get in the font because he has a wheelchair but it's all going to work out great!
Then Monday the zone played Paintball but for undisclosed reasons I didn’t participate but it looked like fun! That's about it from last week, I love and miss you guys! Christ lives, this is his church, and President Russell M. Nelson is a prophet called of God!
Nos vemos!
Elder McBride
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Multizone Conference,random Skype call,Colombian Independence Day, and a week of work!
Hola familia y amigos!
This week was pretty normal but still started out a little weird. Tuesday we were supposed to have interviews with President at 6pm so we planned our day with that, but then we got a message that our interviews would be at 8 instead so we had to change everything up. Then we get to the church at 7:45 pm and find out that our interviews got cancelled and we would have interviews the next day. So then Wednesday we had the multizone conference which started at 9 am. It was really cool, we even had Colombian Chinese food for lunch. Then when that ended all the missionaries that hadn't had our interviews had interviews with President...my comp and I were the very last ones!haha. We didn't end up getting home till after 9 pm so we were there all day. My interview with Presidente Palhua was really cool. He has family friends who live in Oregon so he face-timed them and I talked with them in my interview haha. It was super random but really fun, they seem like really nice people!
Thursday my English teaching skills were truely put to the test because I had to teach alone since the other missionaries got emergency transferred. I am officialy a very unofficial English teacher! Then Friday I had an intercambio with Elder Stearns in his area and they have bikes!! That was super fun and reminded me of Villo. While I was there I got to do a baptismal interview for a friend of the missionaries in another area. That was super fun the young lady has an amazing testimony and a really big desire to follow Crist and be baptized! While I was over there some of our friends had their baptism interviews too which was really awesome.
It was Colombia's Independence day on Friday so Elder Stearns and I contacted with Alma 48:11 talking about rejoicing in the freedom and independence of his country. We are all so lucky to live in a free country where we have the right to choose what we want to do, who we want to be, what we want to believe. We can never forget how blessed we are to have all those things and to also never forget that freedom and Independence isn't free. Millions of people have sacrificed their lives so that we can be free in our respected countries, and our savior Jesus Crist sacrificed his life so that EVERYONE can live again with our father in heaven. We can never fully repay them for what they did but we can do our best to remember and honor them.
Sunday we had the opportunity to remember Christ and go to church. We had the opportunity again to pass by Hno Marco and push him in his wheelchair to church. He is so excited about the gospel and his baptism this upcoming Saturday; he even set up an appointment with the bishop to make sure he's ready! We also had 4 other friends at church with us which was amazing! Later that day we contacted a big family outside their house with the Family proclamation to the world. They are really interested and we're going to pass by for them this week! Today we did some needed cleaning of the house and spent some time with Elder Sosa and Elder Paredes. That's all for this week! Sorry Mom I don't have any pictures but I'll work on that this week I promise! I love and miss all of you! I hope you're all doing well!
Nos Vemos!
Elder McBride
Sunday, July 22, 2018
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