FEBRUARY 27, 2017 -- WEEK 19

Birthday party for a Sister in Connor's Ward.

This week was a wild one!

Élder Aguilar went home (completed his 24 month mission), and I got stuck with the Zone Leaders for like three hours just waiting for my new companion. 

My new companion is . . . Élder Aguilar!!!  

He is also from Perú, and he has one transfer more than I do. It will be interesting to see how he does things, and maybe I will be able to learn a lot from him! 

This week, Samuel Acurero told us he wanted to be baptized on the 18th, and that he is just not going to go to his work on Sundays if they won't give him the day off. Woosh.

Isabel e Yusara Carpio also are going well. They made a cake for Élder Aguilar before he left, and it was super delicious. 

I am doing good down here in Colombia. And I think that this area is going to see tons of results in this next transfer before I go.

I don't have much time but my testimony this week is on Repentance! 

I will make it of my next one too, but I know that it is super important and a humongous blessing that we have to be able to repent of all the sins we have. 

2 Corinthians 9:15

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Love you all!

Élder Tracy

February 20, 2017 -- WEEK 18

Our Elder making mandocas!  Photo Courtesty of Sister Jennifer Ohep Garzon!

Well this week was nuts. Also found a sin of an old élder in my district https://www.wevideo.com/view/722060552 (Just a video of some Elders doing their version of the Harlem Shake.)

Marcelo went to La Calera, which is like thirty minutes from here, so he's actually still in country, and I expect to see him baptized within a month!

We found a new dude from Venezuela, who has had the lessons.  He contacted us and is basically asking if we could baptize him. He is a miracle!

A family, Isabel, y Yusara Carpio have been progressing really well also. They also invited friends to Church this last Sunday, so I'm thinking they will follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized also.

Also today, we had a Zone activity outside of Bogotá, and it was two and a half hours away in bus, so we basically spent all of p-day in a bus going in and out of Bogotá.  It was cool though and the Hermana´s in Verbenal made us a good lunch.  Tomorrow we have a Multi-District meeting, since one of the élders in Verbenal went home for health issues. That should be cool. 

There also was a bomb that went off yesterday and tons of helicopters with big lights were all over the city.  There will be a national protest this Wednesday so I'm expecting an interesting week.

Bomb blast hits central Bogotá

Fears that Farc peace deal may not have ended residual conflict from 50-year civil war

Crime scene investigators of the Colombian Police examine the area of an explosion in the La Macarena neighborhood of Bogota, Colombia, on Sunday. At least 31 people, many of them police officers, were injured by the explosion. Police presence was high in the area as the last run of the bullfighting season in the Colombian capital was scheduled to be held at the bullring, La Santamaria. Photo by Leonardo Munoz/EPA

I testify this week of Companions! 

I have been living every moment of these last five months with somebody always at my side helping me prepare to have a wife. Also to be able to work with somebody who I don't always agree with.  It has taught me patience, and also to be able to respect other people's decisions more.  Whether or not they are the greatest decisions. 

My companion, Ëlder Aguilar finishes his mission in seven days.  Nuts! 

Like it says in Ecclesiates 4:10 --  

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

We NEED that other person to support us and give us the strength and encouragement to go on.  Also like it says in John 8:17 --

 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.

I know that my companions have all been chosen by God to help me grow in some way, and vice versa with them.

I hope all is well in good old "Misura". I am praying for you guys! 

Élder Connor Tracy

FEBRUARY 13, 2016 -- WEEK 17

FEBRUARY 13, 2016

Well, I've made it FIVE months! I'm just about 1/4 of the way done with the mission! Crazy how quick it goes.

Well, This week was a little sad. Marcelo, who was finally ready to get baptized, this coming Saturday, is going through a lot of problems and in the end the baptism I think has fallen through. 

Gilbert got the Priesthood, and is going strong in the church!

We found a family, called Carpío, which consists of a mom, boyfriend, and a daughter. The mom after the first lesson said she is going to kick the dude to the curb, and then passed us a reference of her children who live in the Coast. Came to church and everything was cool.

We got a new Ward Mission Leader too! He is from Venezuela, Oscar Callejas.  He has a brother serving in Bogotá Sur Mission right now, (as assistant to the president!) and so we are trying to figure out what is working for him in his ward that we don't do. 

Something sad that happened this week. . . I was walking home, dribbling my soccer ball.  I passed it to Aguilar, and then he passed it back but it hit a curb, and then bounced back into the street, and a car ran it over. I don't have a ball anymore :(

My Sidekick, Élder Aguilar is starting the downward slide, with two weeks left until he is finished with his mission. I am trying to suck everything I can out of him before he leaves. He lives in Cusco, and has been teaching me Quechua. I would write some of the phrases but Quechua has a unique spelling system. 

This week I would like to talk about the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues is one of the spiritual gifts we can be given through the Holy Ghost, to be able to help others receive the gospel. I know it exists, and it has been a huge influence in my mission. After one month and a half of living in Colombia, I understood and spoke Spanish ("spoke"). 

Todavía estoy mejorando y aprendiendo las palabras más útiles. El don de lenguas puede llegar a cualquier persona que esté en necesidad de ello. Sé que el Evangelio en ha sido restaurado por un profeta de Dios, que en estos últimos días podemos recibir los bendiciones antiguos, y que dios haznos saber su voluntad mediante profetas hoy día. Español es súper chévere y la única manera en que hubiera llegado al nivel en que estoy, es mediante ayuda celestial. 

Google Translation from MOM:

I'm still improving and learning the most useful words.  The gift of tongues can reach anyone who is in need of it.  I know that the Gospel has been restored by a prophet of God, that in these last days we can receive the old blessings, and that God let us know His will by means of prophets.  Spanish is super cool and the only way I could have reached the level I'm on is through heavenly help.  

I will be receiving my third companion in two weeks. How exciting to get to know all of these Peruvians! Odds are I get my third Peruvian. 

Write me nerds. I am bored of speaking Spanish! Ha Ha.

Élder Tracy

FEBRUARY 6, 2017 -- WEEK SIXTEEN

Hello Hello!

This week was pretty boring, and I am feeling less and less inclined to write this weekly message! I guess that lets me know that I'm focusing more on the mission. . .? 

So, this week, we had a menos activo (less active member) who for the first time in two years attended church. Woo!  And, a super weird thing happened this week but I don't have much time so I just will write a little bit.

We went to take out money from the bank and two ladies stopped us and asked if we were Mormon.  We said yeah and then they just started saying how amazing missionaries are and that the temple is so cool, and that they wanted to be able to get to know the inside of it.  I told them that if they wanted to enter the temple, they need to be worthy, and to be a member of the church. Then they asked if I could just open the temple for one day so that they could see inside, and I said no! So then they started being really mean to us and just basically like we had ruined their day and they walked off. Weird.

This week also we have found a lot of really people prepared by the Lord.  We got a reference from a member of the Quorum of the Seventy! So I expect a baptism from that. 

 Ha ha.

Marcelo is going to be baptized in two weeks. His life has taken a crazy turn for the worst and he is dealing with it really well. He is a good guy. I will then have two baptisms if he manages to keep it up.

My testimony this week is on the Temple, or better Temples. They are holy places on this earth where we can obtain more guidance from God, and to help others that have died or ourselves to be able to be saved through ordinances for the dead. 

Just like the Tabernacle of Moses, or Solomon's Temple, only worthy people can enter, and it is a place where we can feel the love of our heavenly father so strong! There is a peace that is only found in the home or the temple. I love the temple and I invite all of you wherever you are to try and find an open house, or to visit the outside of one. 

Well, that's all folks! Pray for me that I can have some more cool experiences, and time to write about them! Chao!

Élder Connor Tracy