HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!
This week was super chill!!!! We worked a tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oon. Long story short we decided that we needed to find investigators closer to the chapel so they would actually come and we have been doing well in that aspect......working with members a ton lately too!!!! Sooo all is well!!!!
This week we had zone conferences and it was cool.....I really liked it (other then the fact we had to do a district cheer......que es esa vaina?) But we learned a ton about the atonement how we can apply it to our lives as missionaries.....we also talked a little bit about goals, and that was cool too!!! You always leave zone conferences with a "VAMOS WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRK" kinda attitude and I'm totally about that!!!
We also had interviews and my interview went really well, I had a TON of questions for Presidente......and he told me that I needed to read "The Infinite Atonement" when I get home.....so that should be radical but we will see!!!
Other than that this week wasn't too excited.....we traveled with the hermana's to Buga today (other Ciudad somewhat close to Tulua) and it was cool.....there is a giant cathedral and it was really cool, but it really reminded me about the importance of the restoration of the church!!! It's soooooooooo real!!!
Anyways, I don't have a ton of time because I sent you all ten trillion pictures today, but I hope that you are all doing well!!!
LOVE YOU HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS!!!
ELDER OLSEN
New mission jerseys ft. Presidente Whitesides jajajaaja
Another district doing their cheer
DISTRITO GRACIELA
Uhhhhhm yeah this happened jajajaaj
Bus ride to Buga!!!
This is a Colombian freeway.....I took this picture to demonstrate the chichi-ness that is driving in this country (there is only 2 lanes)
Some dude got mad at me after taking these, I was "ruining the sign"
The Basílica
More of the Basilica
The lighthouse
Inside the lighthouse
More from the inside
The view is chevere, you can see the Basilica!
The view
With the hermana's
My compa
Yo
We own this lighthouse
More of the inside
A description.....in our language!!!
I make this sign look goooooooooooooooooooood
My district does too.......I guess
Unpacking My Adjectives: La Graciela
Hey fam! It's been a minute since I've been able to write a good, descriptive letter, soo I took a few pictures of the area and now I'm going to write a little about it :D
The Area: La Graciela is a little different, because we are literally in the middle of nowhere haha! Tulua is different than the other cities in Colombia because it's small...I'm used to big cities and avoiding cars and motorcycles, but here I'm getting used to horses, cows, and big fields. Another Interesting thing (and my first impression of Tulua) is KITES!!! There are always trillions of kites in the air and kids in the street rolling up their learn...I LOVE THAT! It's different :) Our area is pretty big, we have a lot of ground to cover. Our area covers the neighborhoods of Aguaclara, La Paz, Paraiso, and we even have a little village out in the middle of no where called La Cruz! So it's pretty big, but we share the branch with the hermana's. They work closer to the chapel in neighborhoods like La Graciela and La Alernia, so that's cool. Something different about our area is that an old railroad runs through it and during the day there are always new cows, horses, and interesting looking birds hanging out on the tracks. During the night there's always people hanging out too...I don't know, I like it! We also have a bunch of rivers and dirt paths that are shortcuts to get to other neighborhoods (which I love to take...they are so green!) My area just screams NATURE!! It smells like nature (horses, cows, rain, humidity) and there are a ton of tree's. I LIKE IT! The weather here is soooo bipolar haha one minute it's super hot and sunny (at a point where you're dying) and the next second it's POURING rain...sometimes the sky is divided and half of the city is dying of heat and the other half is getting drenched. So we gotta be prepared at all times!
Aguaclara: Aguaclara is easily the biggest "neighborhood" of our area, but it's not really even a neighborhood...way back when the dinosaurs roamed Tulua, the neighborhoods like Santa Rita and El Bosque didn't exist...Aguaclara did exist but it was it's own little village, separate from the city. The only thing that really connected them was the railroad. But after a ton of development in the city the two were connected...even though Aguaclara is technically not part of Tulua...really interesting!
LA CASA: Our house is cool, I guess! We live in Aguaclara (so I guess we don't even live in Tulua). We are literally surrounded by clear fields, cabins, and farms. It's kinda a pain because we don't live anywhere near supermarkets, only small stores. Buuuut the house itself is nice...it's not the best in the mission but it's not the worst either. We have our bedroom, our closet, the bathroom, study room/kitchen and a little patio thing to wash and dry our clothes...the only thing that I don't like about our house is that when it rains super hard, rain leaks through the window of the closet room and water gets EVERYWHERE!! But other than that I like our house...it's perfectly sized for two people, but my comp is in the process of changing the house because it's a little far from everything, but it's honestly not a problem if you plan right...pero bueno.
THE BRANCH: The branch is cool, our first Sunday when we went to church it seemed a little empty, and then 5 minutes after the meeting started people started to come! The branch actually has a pretty good attendance, and we have a branch council every Sunday, which is weird (the last time I had that in my mission I was serving in Recuerdo Norte). Some of the leaders seem super excited about their callings and want to help us...others seem tired. Buuut I'm super happy to be working with them anyway! Our chapel is weird...smallest district/stake center I have ever seen...it has 2 floors though, and I like that!
La Pensionista: Our pensionista is cool! I like her, she's chill! Her name is Luz Delli...her food is really good! She is used to cooking a mountain of food but Elder Castillo and I really don't eat that much! But she asked me my favorite foods and now she makes them sometimes (sopa de zapallo or pumkin soup! Mmm que rico!) And she always gives us aji (it's kinda like salsa) to put on and mix with our rice, and that's helpful because so much time eating rice...it's getting old hahahaha
CONCLUSION: Buuut yeah...that's the area, it's cool! A little different but it's good :)
These are some photos of our front yard
The pool is from an investigator, Alexandra!
Typical street in Colombia
The train tracks
Rio Tulua
and another shot of the river
Random Field
I took these from the 2nd floor of the chapel
The birds, eating the daily roadkill!
The cross in the Cruz
Some fields right by our house
Random horses on our street
This is our chapel
Our study room
The kitchen
Laundry room.....Notice how it doesn't have a ceiling.....goes outside so our clothes can dry!
This is where Totodile and I cuddle all night long
The rest of our room
The closet room
The bathroom
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