Greetings from Giradot, The hottest place in the mission.

Hi mom!!!  I'm still alive and well, just sweating a little bit more.

So yeah, I start with the changes, because there were a lot of them. The way we know our transfers is they call us at night on Sunday, and we leave in the morning on Monday. They are really sudden actually. So what happened with Tintal.....

At about 10:40 we got the call of the tranfers, and they said, to be quick... Both of you are going.....

That's right!!! Elder Espinola and I both got transfered!!! We both got kicked out of there and moved to other places. And I'm just a little outside of Bogota now.... about 3 hours away in a big city called Giradot. That's right baby I'm in Tierra Caliente!!!! And dont worry, its actually not hot, its HELL! XD Only because it is extremely hot, not in any other way. Really it's amazingly beautiful down here, I love the difference of that of Bogota, that it's not all huge with millions of people living in tiny apartments. It is awesome, and I'm going to get used to the heat while getting to know the area. Right now its about 90 to 100 degrees all day everyday, and we can only use long sleeve shirts (not sure if it is possible to send me more or I can buy more here, because I only have 2) and so yeah it's hot stuff. 

Getting around is easy peasy though because we have bikes!!!! That's right, I'm now cruzin around like a homie in the streets of Colombia. I love having a bike it is really nice actually, the only thing I need to fix is the seat, because my booty is just a little bit sore. But I'm getting accustomed, and don't worry I have found a new love here, and her name is water. I LOVE WATER!!! haha

My companion stayed in Bogota, he is going to be a District leader, train again, and open an area, so he's got his plate full of work to do.

Not sure what's going to happen for Darwin, and all the other wonderfull people I left in Tintal, but I really hope somehow Darwin can still have his baptism like we had planned for this Saturday.

I got to call Darwin the morning we left, so that was good. I just hope he keeps progressing and is baptized. It's hard to change but I'm excited to be somewhere new. 

I love all your stories and that stuff, keep it comin!!! :D

So yeah, that's my life so far with all the changes that have happened

 

Love love love, more LOVE I LOVE YOU!

Elder Kendall

Tacos for New Years, and almost finishing Training.....

Woooooo time is going by so darny darn fast, I cant believe how fast this transfer has gone. 

New Years happened, and it wasn´t very bad at all, it actually was pretty calm, pretty tranquilo.

People still drank like crazy but thats pretty normal for Holidays like that so nothing to crazy. There were some fireworks and that kinda stuff but nothing major, me and my companion however cooked tacos, and really good ones at that, so that was pretty crazy. I love the recorder I have, we got some pretty awesome stories on there for you guys when I get back :D

We have been working hard and should see some baptisms coming soon. We are planning on Darwin for the 16th of January, Lorena for the 23rd, and Alexandra for the 30th, all in January!! If all goes well and they come to church, we will be having a lot of happy and saved souls coming into the branch. Our time changed to 8:00 in the mornings for sundays, and attendance of the members was pretty interesting. But we still had our normal amount of people attenting by the end of sacrament so that was good. 

Darwin should get back in Bogota today, so we are happy that we can start working with him extra hard for him to be baptized the 16th. He is awesome, he called us like twice, once during Christmas and once during new years to see how we´re doing. It was pretty legit.

Other than that we are working hard for good things to come in this next transfer.

Oh yeah, I ONLY HAVE ONE MORE WEEK OF TRAINING!!!! How crazy is that to think, I´ve nearly had 4 months in Colombia. After this week, I'm going to be one of the normal missionaries that is just doing his thing. I can't believe how fast this time has gone, it is kinda weirding me out. Also next week we´re having transfers, and I think that Elder Epinola and I will be staying here for another 6 weeks in Tintal, which I really hope, because we have so many good things coming.

It's so okay for Ian to use my guitar, the truth is that I miss it a lot actually, I want to buy one here one day, with awesome Colombian sound.

I really wish I could do my jury duty but, darn, its just to bad haha!!! I cant believe papa and I have been selected, that's pretty funny haha.

Looking forward to the future, to continue workin with my crazy but funny comp.

Con todo el amor en todo el mundo,

Elder Kendall

New Years tacos

That is the arrow through the bag from the bow...

 

 

 

We have a lot of good stuff to look forward to here in Tintal

Elder Kendall, Elder Espina, President and Sister Baquerizo

HO HO HO and a Merrrrrrrrry Christmas one and all!! Christmas was a lot of fun here, got some sweet experiences to tell you, but writing it would be too hard haha XD 

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you enjoy being 27 :D

Don´t worry mom, all of the package was still there, and I got all of my fantastic gifts, like the recorder, the belt, peanut butter, candy and all that good stuff. I have already eaten a ton of the candy XD I love the recorder you got me!! Already using it to record some of those stories that I was talkin bout. It was really really good to talk to ya´ll.

Speakin of Miracles in the mish, we have a lot of good stuff to look forward to here in Tintal. We have at least 3 people that we are teaching that we are working really hard to get them prepared to be baptized in January. They are Darwin, Alexandra, and Lorena, and all three are amazing people. We are hoping that all goes well so that they can each reach their goal of being baptized in January!!! Which of course they will, as long as we do all we can and they do the things that our Heavenly Father asks them to do, like come to church!!!! I love these people so much and their families, they each have demonstrated their huge faith in Christ to follow his steps. 

Darwin called us on Christmas to ask how we were doing and how our Christmas was, which was really cool since he called us to ask us. Which never happens. 

Oh yeah, also we had our Christmas dinner with the President on the 22nd, I have some great pictures to send you from that day, and the others :D but the dinner was really good, we got mashed potatoes!!! Which was heavenly to eat. After that we got to watch a movie!! And guess what one we watched!?!?! Lluvia de Hamburguesas!  In other words Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs!!!! It was so dang good, it's one of my favorite movies of all time, and it is really stinkin good even in Spanish!!! It was amazing to get to watch, although I won't lie, made me a little trunky XD

After we played fútbol and lots of other games, it was so much fun. It was a good good day.

So yeah, Christmas was a party, and the thing that Colombians like to do the most here for Christmas is to drink. Which makes it pretty interesting. But other than it being hotter than any other day that I've had here in Tintal without snow and only sun, Christmas was a blast and felt pretty normal. 

I'm lovin it! As unfortunatly McDonalds would say, life is good.

MUCH LOVE, A WHOLE LOT OF LOVE

Elder Kendall

Buenas y Feliz Navidad

Ho Ho Ho! I miss the snow!!

Yo no puedo comprender como es ya casi Navidad, y que voy a pasar ese este ano en Colombia!! 

 

Anywho, things have been pretty good, lots of crazyness here in Colombia with the impending party that is Christmas.

 

This week there are some changes with our schedules. We have p-day on Friday this and the next week, because it will be better to work on the Mondays the next two weeks than on Christmas and on New Year's day, so that is cool! (don't worry we will still write Monday) and it is just for these next two weeks. 

 

Tomorrow is our Cena Navideña with the mission president and all our zone La Libertad. We get to go to the temple and then we have activities all day with the president and his wife, playing games, eating food, and doing whatever else they do here in Colombia. Somthing diferent here as well is that the big celebration of Christmas is on the 24th, and not as much on the 25th. The 24th is going to be crazy here, they do fireworks and everybody parties and drinks, which is a great combination. There are going to be so many people, which is why we are going to skype on the 24th.

 

I got some good stuff saved up for the skyping by the way, so I hope that you guys are good with just sittin there and listening to my beautiful manly man voice and hearing all my stories that I got for ya´ll. Because its goin to be good.

 

This week was a little disappointing, we didnt have Darwin or anyone this week that could come to church. That is the hardest thing to get people to do, probably anywhere, is to get people to come to church. So Darwin's baptism will have to be pushed to the 2nd of January, and our other investigators dates for baptism will also have to be pushed back. We need to find some new people to teach, which we are working on to contact people more. 

 

Other than that this week was really good. We have had some really good lessons with Darwin and others, really the only thing that Darwin needs to be baptized is to attend church one more time, because he is reading and praying and has a testimony. He is such a cool guy. 

 

This week is going to be a tough one with Star Wars coming out and Christmas and all that jazz, but really it is going to be awesome with all the craziness and the fireworks here as well. 

I MISS STUDIO C hahaha, the 4 Wisemen sounds amazing. Is Star Wars already showing at the movie theater????? That's like 6 days early XD 

 

I´m really glad things are going great for you guys out there in the land of the cold. 

 

Realmente yo deseo que ustedes pueden saber que bueno es un mision en Colombia Bogota Sur, porque, mejor dicho, es el mejor 2 anos de toda la vida!!!!!!!!

Love, 

Elder Kendall

 

The card has Chewbacca "singing" Wish You a Merry Christmas... it's like the card was made for Elder Kendall :)

 

There is sunshine in Colombia today! and everyday.....

So this week has been really good, we found a lot of new people to teach and some of our people that we have been teaching are really doing well!

Darwin came to church again!!!!!!!! He is so good, we have taught him a couple of times in the gospel principles class (because we teach it each week when our investigators come) and he knows so much about Jesus Christ and has so much faith, I don't know how he hasn't been a member already. He understands and believes all that we teach him about the Gospel principles, and is applying them. All that he really needs to do is attend church one more time and he is ready to be baptized! I have so much love for these people of Colombia, they are truly amazing. 

How´s the snow?? I gotta tell ya I do kinda miss that stuff. But we get fireworks here for Christmas so that's going to be pretty cool. We have been using the Christmas video to get references, and it has been pretty good! It is hard to contact people here in Tintal, because everybody lives in Conjuntos, or apartment complexes that are always inside big gates that don't let us in unless we have the tower and apartment number. But we have found some great people.

My companion is another awesome missionary. I really have been so blessed to have such cool guys with me. He understands all English and he speaks it all the time, so we have a lot of fun talking in English. He says the funniest things in the whole world. We are working hard to fix our branch, because I also learned that Tintal has a lot of problems. But we are going to work hard and make things better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah things are going well, I'm having a great time out here. I can always feel the love Heavenly Father has for me, and especially for the people of Tintal.

D&C 18:11-14 I think. The part where it talks about bringing souls to Christ. It is the joy that I have begun to feel for these peeps of Tintal. 

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Kendall

P.S. I heard in the mall here the song GREASE playing, and I started grooving out a little bit. 

STAY THIS MADNESS!!!!!! (Gandalf quote)

 

Proof Zach is eating SOMETHING :)

Thanksgiving Feast :)

Further proof Zach is eating  :)

Fulfilled promise to Janica to wear the ugly tie she sent with him to be worn on her birthday (which is today)

Zach MADE this omelet... he is already growing so much :)

 

Alrighty, Mucho Cambios Este Semana

Yo yo, it's me down is the big city. I got some good stuff, I´ll start with new stuff.

 

That day that I was waiting for my new companion to come from Laticia, we waited from 9:00 in the morning til 7:30 at night, so it was a good amount of time to wait. But he arrived and he is pretty cool. His name is Elder Espinola, he is from Paraguay and he also speaks pretty good English, and of course a ton of Spanish. He also knows Portuguese, because there are a lot of people that speak that in Laticia. 

This week has been a big change and a big challenge without having Elder Ichuro to help me out with the area. It becomes a lot harder to know what we are going to do if our appointments fall, because I run out of people to visit, since I only know the area so well. But we have been finding some new people and we are getting along. It is a lot of hard work and a ton of learning, and it has been very good for me to focus on these people and figure out who we are going to teach. 

Side note, I still have pictures to send, but I cant because my computer doesn't have a USB for me to plug in, so hopefully next week.

Darwin is going good, we have had some really powerful lessons with him, about baptism and other such things. The only thing he faults is he didn't attend church yesterday, which was pretty hard and disappointing. Unfortunately he won't be able to reach his goal of being baptized the 19th of December because he still needs to attend church 2 more times. We aren't exactly sure what happened, we hope that we can meet with him this week and see how he is doing. I still have a lot of confidence he can continue to progress, and although it is difficult, I know the Lord is with us and I know that he will bless him. 

Also Star Wars is coming out, and it's been getting to me a little bit. There is a less active member that we have been visiting, and the last time we visited his 1 and a half year old daughter was wearing this jacket that was the perfect size for it to be a Jedi robe. It was flippin cool, she looked just like a padawan, a Jedi in training. 

Also Scriptures that have helped me this week 

Alma 17:13    Philippians 4:13 

That is pretty much it for this week, as always I'll pull a Nephi and say that I can't write one hundredth of what I have lived, but I can't wait to talk to you guys and tell ya about Bogota!!!

Love, 

Elder Kendall

Transfers, Lack of Turkey, and other such Things

ELLO GOVNA! yeah I just had to get that out of my system, anywho, this week a lot happened, and I don't have any darn pictures with me because I left my camera at our house because I thought I would be writing later. 

Transfers, so my dad and a really awesome Elder Ichuro left today for Florencia, which is like 13 hours away from Bogota. I`m pretty bummed that he has left, it is going to be really different without him. He is a really great Elder and has taught me a lot. My new companion, who hasn't come yet, is Elder Espina, he is from Paraguay and his last area that he was in is Laticia, so that is pretty cool. But he still hasnt come yet, and this week is going to be an interesting one. Since I'm the one that knows the area, I´m going to be leading everything, from who we are going to teach, where we are going to go, I make the calls, lead the way to the houses and lead the daily and weekly planning sessions of what we are going to do. Also, my new companion only speaks Spanish as well, which means that yes, everything is in Spanish, and I am leading it.  I hope that I can do a good job.

 

I have met the president a few times but I haven't talked to him a whole lot. We had a Conference de Zona last tuesday where all the missionaries is Zona Libertad y Kennedy met with the President to listen to him and learn how to be better missionaries. President Baquerizo is amazing. We don't have any senior missionaries, or any North American sister missionaries because they arent allowed to serve in the Bogota South mission. 

 

I have pictures of our ``Thanksgiving,´´ but I don't have my camera so I will have to send them next week. It was sad not having any mashed potatoes or turkey or anything like that, but hey, we did have a 3 liter thing of coke so that was pretty sweet. 

 

Darwin is amazing, and I want to tell you an experience we had with him this Sunday. 

 

We visited with him on Saturday and invited him to church, and he accepted so we made plans to meet him at his house at 9:30, and bring him with us to church. So that Sunday morning we left for his house and we passed by the park on the way to his house when Darwin saw us and called us over. It was the planned time of 9:30 and we talked for a little bit, then we asked if he was ready to go with us to church. But he said that he was waiting for a friend to come and couldnt come with us to church. We were pretty sad at this, but we told him how church didnt start till 10, and he could still come and meet us at the church when he was done with his friend. He said that he would try. So we left, feeling sad and not super optomistic that he would come. Also this Sunday I gave a talk, about the sacrifice of all things, which was pretty awesome, anyways, we where in the chapel, and 10 came and went, and no Darwin. So we went through sacrament meeting, and I went up and started my talk(in spanish). xD 

 

About halfway through, I saw my companion leave the chapel, and I thought, weird im giving my talk and my companion just left the chapel. But when he returned I saw that Darwin was with him. He came. So he was able to hear the rest of my talk and attend the whole 3 hours of church. He is really progressing and I truly believe that if he keeps this path he is going to be baptized this month. He is reading and praying and he is believing, and to watch that process is absolutly an amazing experience. 

 

My week has been crazy, with a new companion and all this. Other stuff too, but I don't have all that much time.  As Christmas is coming up, I know how important family will be and I hope you guys all enjoy the snow!!! 

 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Love, love to much lovey love love,

 

Elder Kendall