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| Carolling with the ward. |
December 23, 2015
Today was the annual Christmas concert for the whole
mission. We spent essentially the whole
day at the conference having fun and messing around. In the morning we watched a really
interesting movie called “Freetown” about missionaries in Africa and I thought
it was really good. I love movies made by church members about missionaries
because usually they have some good spiritual moments and they make me feel
grateful for being a missionary. Sometimes it is easy to forget that I am doing
the best work on the face of the Earth.
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| One of the most fun families in the ward! |
Miracle #501: We didn’t have a plan for this evening,
but I felt prompted to suggest going to a less active member who is never
home. Today they were home and they told
us that our visit to them was just what they needed.
The funny part of the day was also the most stressful. I left my bag on the ground by the church as
we went to go and buy some bike parts.
When I got back, it was gone. I
freaked out for about 20 minutes and then I thought about reviewing the
security camera to see if I could tell who took my bag. It worked!
I saw that our zone leaders picked it up and knew that I could get it
back. Crisis controlled.
Turned out that I completely broke my pedal off today and I
also learned that the axle of my back tire is super crooked.
December 24, 2015
Today was pretty dang fun!
This morning we spent a really long time fixing my bike. (more
karma) We finally got my pedal replaced
and by luck the gears are bigger so I can pedal even faster! It also turned out that the axle on my back
wheel was cracked in half , not just bent so I replaced that too. The bright side of having to replace nearly
every part of my bike is that I know bikes like the back of my hand. If I have the tools and the parts, I can fix
anything.
Miracle #502: Today I was going to use some really
poor internet service to call my family, but at the last minute, our great
investigators offered their really good internet to us to call home!
The fun part
of the day was talking to my family. I’m
really excited for the moment when I can talk to them without having a little
timer in the corner.
After the call, we
went caroling for 1 ½ hours. We
basically drove around from house to house.
I felt like a missionary in the states for a little while. The best part of the caroling was visiting
one of our investigators. Her husband
was there for the first time and we made a really good first impression. The last fun part of the day was having a
Colombian banquet for Christmas dinner.
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| Colombian Christmas dinner, it was AMAZING! |
December 25, 2015
Today was a pretty great day. It started with waking up on time (which for
me is sleeping in) and studying for 2 hour.
After that I did 1 ½ hours of insanity.
Then we went to visit the V. family from my first ward to wish them a
Merry Christmas. My “best friend” Maxi
was the one who came out of the house to greet me. At first he didn’t recognize me, but when he
did, he ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and almost started crying. I was really happy that I could make this
Christmas a special Christmas for him. I
gave him a plaque as a gift and he was super happy. This time around I could
understand their Spanish and speak with them fluently.
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| On Christmas I went to visit one of the first families I met here in Chile (familia Valenzuela). |
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| Chilean BBQ in Capitan Avalos |
Following the enormous lunch, my companion
called home and talked to his family.
When we finally started working, we didn’t have much success.
Miracle #503: We felt prompted to go back to a street
where we had already been, but as we were headed back, the family who was
previously gone, came home. We had a
good lesson.
So the lame part of the day was finding out that one of the
sisters in our district is going home early for health reasons. The stress of a mission is really hard on a
lot of missionaries. It really bummed me
out.
December 26, 2015
Today was a normal life in the life of Elder Colvin until
suddenly President Cook called. I almost fell off my bike when he told me that
I was going to train this next transfer.
At first I was super pumped and now I am just feeling the stress
building up prematurely. Other than
that, the day was pretty good. This
morning we fixed the sister’s bikes because they managed to break an axle too.
Miracle #504: I am going to train. I always hoped that I would, but never really
thought the President would trust me to.
The funny part of the day was when my comp ate it HARD for
no apparent reason. He tore up his
pants, but other than that, he was fine.
The other miracle of the day was meeting L. C., the daughter of one of
our investigators. She was very
interested in our message. The only lame part of the day was having to bike a
butt load after doing a hardcore leg exercise routine this morning. I am super tired, but excited to train.
December 27, 2015
Today was interesting.
Basically we did whatever my companion wanted to do because he is
leaving this sector. It was one of the
most hectic and unplanned days of my entire mission. I love Elder M, but I really hope he gets
himself more organized. We also went to
the goodbye meeting of all of the missionaries who go home tomorrow because my
companion wanted to go.
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| My old district before changes. |
This time we
actually got a less active to go with us, which theoretically is one of the
requirements to go. The best lesson was once again with V. and his whole
family. They are so great!
Miracle #505: Someone gave us a ride back to our
house. We didn’t even personally know
them, but they saw us in a rush and helped us out.
The funny part of the day was getting out of the last visit
15 minutes late. My companion wanted to
stay even longer, even though it was already past curfew. When we got out of the visit, we had to start
running because we didn’t have our bikes.
The funny part was that my big, chunky, out of shape companion runs
faster than my short little legs with let me.
I literally cannot run, but I am motivate to improve this next transfer
if can convince my companion to run with me.
December 28, 2015
Today I got up earlier that usual (about 5:30) and it
actually worked shockingly well. I got
up faster and was more alert and less tired throughout the day. Today was interesting. We had a new trainer meeting where President
Cook scared us into the reality of training. At the end, he pulled me aside and
gave me a little heads up about who I would be training. He said, “ You are going to train a
missionary from Argentina and the MTC president said that he has some pride
issues, so don’t let your pride clash with his. “ WAY good pep-talk, right?!
Miracle #506: Virtually all of our plans worked
out. We even got our 2 planned divisions
in.
The funny part of the day was when my comp. bent my brand
spanking new bike pedal. I guess he was
just moving it, and it bent by itself.
It was also really fun joking around in the training meeting. I feel like I am probably not ready to do
this, but I will do my best. I am really
excited to train and I pray that I will do a good job. I am determined to love my companion and get
along with him.
December 29, 2015
So I guess that President Cook either changed his mind or he
was a little bit mixed up yesterday because he didn’t give me someone from
Argentina, he gave me a Chilean! I have
always wanted a Chilean companion and it is even cooler that I get to train
one. His name is Elder Huaiquinir and he has a very unusual and interesting
situation. He was called to serve in the
Arizona, U.S., but he is waiting for VISA paperwork to be approved. So, without even going to the MTC, he is here
in this mission. I am not really sure
why he did not go to the MTC first, but I am really excited to train him. He is a SUPER cool kid, and he will be a
great missionary.
Miracle #507: We had an incredible first day! The best
part was when I was inspired by the spirit to visit someone who we had
previously stopped visiting. We
technically had a lesson scheduled for that time, but for some reason I felt
like they weren’t going to be there. I called to double check and sure enough,
they weren’t home. But the other family
that I was prompted to call was home and we had a very good first lesson.
The funny part of the day was probably sucking the energy
out of my companion by riding 15 km out to visit some people. It was also pretty funny when one of the
people we teach started to talk to my comp about current events and for a
minute I thought, “How do you know all this stuff?!” Then I realized that just
yesterday he was a normal person. He confessed
to me that just last night he was playing Grand Theft Auto V. Talk about a change of pace!
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