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| Elder Burt, Elder Sorensen, & Elder Flores in Cali Colombia Mission |
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| Eight elders from the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission reassigned to the Cali Colombia Mission with President and Sister Whitesides. |
Friday, we spent
the day in meetings with the Colombia Cali mission president, President
Whitesides (from Utah). Then we were shown our new comps and sent out to our
areas. I’m in a trio with Elder Burt (from Utah, 14 months in the mission)
and Elder Flores (from El Salvador, 7 months in the mission). This mission is
very, very different from the Bolivia Cochabamba mission. Adjusting has been kind
of tough and annoying. Of course the missionary work and teaching and such is
similar. So the more I stay focused on that and ignore all the other nonsense I
do ok. Haha.
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| Eating with the mission president and wife. |
I’m in the zone of Palmira,
but I’m out in a smaller city called Cerrito. My comps and I are the only
missionaries in the whole town. There is a little branch here (of like 50ish
active members), and we meet in a house/chapel. I love it out here. Colombia is
a lot more advanced than Bolivia. The Spanish is pretty different; they talk a
lot faster and ... more intelligently. Hahaha. I love the accent. The people
are super nice and a lot more open, friendly and talkative. I love Colombia.
Our area here is pretty good.
It seems to be a
theme in this mission that baptisms are slower to come. Here in our area we
have several awesome, awesome investigators that are soooo ready to be
baptized. I feel like there just isn’t enough passion and emotion and push
from the missionaries, and it kind of really bugs me. Something I’ve learned
throughout my mission thus far is that the biggest difference between good
missionaries and great missionaries is attitude. A missionary´s attitude and
passion and conversion to the Lord is by far the game changer. And I just feel
that here there isn’t much passion, there isn’t much conversion.
Everything just seems to be like a machine, with no emotions. It really bugs me
and makes me sad.
Anyways,
we´ve been working pretty well here in Cerrito. We have this one investigator
named Yuly. She is awesome. Our second visit with her she opened up completely,
and through tears, she shared how badly she wants to get baptized, but how
first she feels she needs to forgive somebody who hurt her a long time ago and
really repent before she can get baptized. Yuly is super awesome and came to
church on Sunday, and she is progressing super well.
Another awesome investigator
we have is named Marlene. We contacted her last Monday night, and then later in
the week we had an amazing cita/lesson. She is super Catholic and is a teacher
of little kids in the Catholic Church, so she knows quite a bit. We taught her
about the pattern of prophets and apostasies using the Bible, and then
explained how Joseph Smith was a prophet and restored the church. She listened
and accepted the lesson really well, and then near the end she told us, “You know,
I knew you guys were going to come. Like 2 weeks ago I had a dream, and God
told me that He would send me some people who would teach me about Him and that
I need to follow them. But he told me that I need to do it and not wait because time
was running out.” WOOWW!!! We invited her to be baptized the first week in
January, and she accepted. It was a super spiritual lesson, and I know that God
was preparing her before we got there and that He led us to find her. God is
good.
Another awesome
miracle. We were walking down the street looking for an old investigator
and contacting as we went. This guy came out of his house and called us over
and then showed us a picture of 2 missionaries and asked if we know them. We didn’t know
those missionaries, but we explained how we are missionaries too. His whole
family was there by that time, and they began to tell us how they are from
Venezuela and had gone to Peru for a few months to live and work there and that
they had met the missionaries there and gone to church and even set a baptism
with them!! They had just gotten to Colombia less than a week ago and were
looking for the same missionaries in white shirts and ties!!! Once again, I
know this is God’s work, and He is leading us. God is good.
We also have this
super awesome family of investigators named the Munoz family. They are awesome.
One of the sons is a member and the 2nd counselor in our branch, but the rest
of his family (his dad and siblings and such are not). They are all super,
super interested and want to be baptized. They are awesome.
We have lots of
other awesome investigators that are progressing, and I’m really excited for
the future and seeing them all progress. Church on Sunday went great and 7 of
our investigators came to church!!! This area is like a gold mine that just
needs to be worked. This was the first week of normal uninterrupted missionary
work that I’ve been able to do since the middle of October. Hahaha. It feels
sooo good to be back doing the Lords work and helping people grow closer to
Him.
Les amo
Elder Sorensen
(In case you missed out: 63 North American missionaries who were serving in the Cochabamba Bolivia Mission were all evacuated due to political unrest sometime around November 14, leaving only Latino missionaries serving in that mission. They flew to Santa Cruz where they stayed a few days under the care of the Santa Cruz mission president until they could get flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil. At the Sao Paulo MTC they received new assignments. Some missionaries who were near the end of their missions returned home early, and all the sister missionaries were reassigned stateside. The remaining 44 elders were reassigned to one of five missions in Colombia. Then they flew to Bogota Colombia November 19th where they stayed in the MTC waiting for their Colombian visas.)
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| Their district in the Bogota MTC with their instructor Hermano Paternina. |
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| Outside the Bogota Colombia Temple, which the missionaries were able to attend several times while they were in the Bogota MTC. |
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| Elder Sorensen outside the Sao Paulo Brazil Temple The temple was closed the day they were there. |
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| Elder Bird & Elder Sorensen in Sao Paulo Brazil Temple Visitors Center |
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| In the Sao Paulo Brazil MTC. New mission assignment in Cali Colombia. |
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| Hanging out at the church in Santa Cruz. |
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| The majority of missionaries from Cochabamba waiting in Santa Cruz. Some missionaries were delayed due to road blockades. |
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| Elder Bird, Elder Norton?? & Elder Sorensen in Bolivia They were not allowed to wear shirts and ties. |
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| Buying Bolivian souvenirs with Elder Bird |
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| Saying goodbye to President & Sister Montoya in Cochabamba Bolivia |