Who's pumped for conference? I sure am!!

Hey everybody! Who's pumped for conference? I sure am!! It is going to be good.

This week was a big bag of crazy sauce. So on Tuesday we were studying just like normal, when my companion got a call from one of the secretaries saying "Elder Amato you gotta go to the office right now! You cannot do anything, and have to come right now because your visa has expired and you can’t preach the gospel!" So we headed right up to the office, and they told us that Elder Amato couldn’t leave the office because he was illegal, and he had to renew his visa. We ended up spending the whole day Tuesday and the also Wednesday in the office of the mission while we were doing all the stuff to get my companions visa. Then President Baquerizo sent us to our area Wednesday night, but told us we couldn't teach or contact. We could only visit members and a "Friendly visit." So we were doing that pretty much all week. Then this last Monday we went back to the office and got all the stuff for my companion's visa, and this next Monday my companion will be all good with his new identification. 

We couldn't find any new investigators because of that, and so we are really in need of some new people. Not much else happened ha ha, it was a pretty simple week. Yesterday we had the leadership meeting with all the zone leaders and with President Baquerizo, and so Elder Palma and his companion Elder Colmenaries came up from Florencia (which is super far) and stayed with us! They go back to Florencia today, around 6:00, so I'll be with Elder Palma pretty much all day. It has been really fun.

Not much else happened. Hopefully this week will be more normal and we can get some good work done. 

Love,

Elder Kendall

 

The Hope of Christ "For A Better World"

Hey family!! I hope you guys are enjoying the sun over there in the Philippines!

 

This week was transfers, and..... Elder Amato and I are staying together! That´s right, im officially killing my first companion in the mission! I think I will keep learning a lot for sure.

Also, my first trainer, my dad, Elder Ichuro has finished his mission and goes home this same week. I can´t believe how fast the time is going! It seems like yesterday (Probably since I'm right next door 😆) I was in Tintal rocking it with Elder Ichuro! The sisters from my group have also finished the mission this week. I saw Sister Rocabado from my group, who is from Argentina, get born here in La Libertad with me and then die here in La Libertad! Crazysauce!

Anyways, this week was pretty good. I learned a lot for myself about the Hope of Christ and how important Hope is. It is so necesary for this work. We have been contacting, but it has not nearly been working in our area. I told my companion this, and I realized that I had almost no hope that the people were being prepared to listen or that anybody would want to listen. And so one morning in Personal Study I studied about the Christ-like Atribute of Hope. I read Ether 12:4. Which talks about how those who believe in God can "have hope of a better world." So that's what I decided to do, be more hopeful, and more faithful that people would listen to our message. And so we went out and put it into practice, and guess what happened! The people didn't change much, there were still people that weren't very interested. But I looked past that and knew and had hope that we would find people. And we did! We contacted some great people, and this week should have some new investigators. I know that without hope, we cannot acomplish what God asks of us. But when we exercise our faith and we hope that things will go better, they do. 

I love missionary work, because it lets me love other people. I love the people of Colombia because so many of them need this gospel. I'm happy to be working for the Lord.

Love,

Elder Kendall

Keep on Keepin on

So this week went fast as usual. We did a whole lot of good stuff and I don’t have that much time to share this week, so I will get out the Highlights.

 

Wednesday we did some cool service, I enjoyed it. We helped get a fridge from the first floor to the third floor. But, the stairs inside the house where too small to go inside(In Bogota the houses are really skinny and tall.), and so we had to take it up from the outside. With some rope, and some good old arm strength and determination. It was pretty fun, and we got the fridge up without too much trouble. 

We also did a whole lot of talking to people, trying to invite them to learn about the restored gospel, and although very little people listened or wanted to talk to us, we are going to keep doing it. I know that God prepares his children, and we are on the lookout and the search to find those peoples. 

Mirena Mendieta, an investigator from CasaBlanca (Who I used to teach when I was there) is going to be baptized this Saturday, and it is really exciting. I’m glad to know that she is going to finally take that step. Awesomesauce!!!

So yeah, I don’t have time for much else... I love being a missionary!!!

Love,

Elder Kendall

An exchange we had with Paimonte, Elder Justiano is there!!

My whole life I thought is was every 6 months...

Down to the Last ToothBrush....

I can’t believe it, but somehow, this week I will opening up my last toothbrush. Not only making my teeth even cleaner, but also marking the point of entering into the last 6 months of my mission. Gotta kick it into overdrive here, time is short.

This week went a lot better for us as a zone, and it was probably one of the busiest weeks I`ve had. On Tuesday we had the Leadership Meeting all day, and that night we started an exchange with the Elders of Bosa. After we finished, we had one normal day, Thursday, where we planned the zone conference we were going to have. Friday after the zone conference, we started that night an exchange with the missionaries in CasaBlanca!!!! 

It was the coolest thing ever, I went to CasaBlanca with Elder Pisco who is from Peru, and we ate with the Mendieta family!!!(Who was our pensionista in CasaBlanca) It was a super cool lunch, and it was super fun, I got to see the whole family again and tell them about Leticia. I love them so much, they are the best. Then we got to teach and we contacted a bunch of people. It was great.

Well, I’m still not believing how fast the time has gone, I really am enjoying the mission. Learning new things every day, and trying hard to keep the zone and our personal area all good. It’s a lot of work, but that’s a good thing I think. 

Love,

Elder Kendall