NOVEMBER 7, 2016 -- MY SECOND WEEK IN THE MISSION FIELD

Elder Connor R. Tracy
Colombia Bogota North Mission
September 2016 -- September 2018


November 7, 2016

We went to the Temple today. It's about 15 minutes away by taxi, so I'm pretty close. It was a cool experience!

Elder Connor Tracy at the Bogota Colombia Temple

Elder Connor Tracy at the Bogota, Colombia Temple

Elder Collahua and Elder Tracy at the Bogota, Colombia Temple

So I watched a guy get hit by a car, bleed like heck from his mouth and nose (probably 100 people in the street instantly after him getting hit). We just watched, and his motorcycle got destroyed. Bad day for him. Anyway.

I think my faith isn't sufficient. When the guy got hit by the car, I thought of what Paul would do. I bet he would have taken him by the hand, and healed him. Then he would have preached to all the people gathered, and through his faith, many would have been baptized. I find myself not believing things like this can happen. And also, it probably isn't needful for God, but still.  When Jesus said that greater works than these you will do, because I go unto my Father. I want to be able to do those greater works.  And I want to fast but I also am always kinda tired here. Oh well.

This week was pretty good. We had a Bogota North and South Mission meeting with a President of the Quorum of the Seventy, talking about baptisms, searching for new investigators, and the importance of the Book of Mormon.

Basically, he said that if an investigator isn't progressing, use your own good judgment as to when you should stop teaching them, and when they might still accept the gospel. Also, if we have lessons with investigators every hour of the day, just move some of them to a future day, and give ourselves two or so hours to search for new investigators. 
Assuming for a regular person, to change their life it takes about two months. So we should expect success today. But we need to work for in sixty-five days when the people will have done all the things they need to change! 

Pretty interesting insights.  And he talked about how the first investigator was Joseph Smith, and the first missionaries (of this dispensation) were God the Father, and His Son. The only difference is Joseph Smith had an even harder time with joining the church, because he had to establish it!

A story that reminds me of Joseph Smith and being a missionary in general is when I was a little boy on the bus. I would pick up rocks that had different colors in them in our driveway, and then sell them to some of the other kids on the bus. As children they didn't realize the value of a rock compared to a dollar.  So I was able to exchange rocks for dollars.  In the mission, I have the pearl of great price, worth two years of my life, and all I will ever own. Yet people here aren't willing to even listen for ten minutes. I guess it's just a little bit frustrating, because just like in the Book of Mormon, when people are learned, they think they are wise.  If only we could all forget our wisdom and submit to the Father of our spirits, and live!

One of my favorite scriptures is in Hebrews 5:8-9.  

Hebrews 5:8-9 (KJV)

8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

My testimony this week is on practicing what we preach. The principle of living the gospel without conflict is just like the idea of Adam not knowing joy, because he knew no misery. We know the joy of the gospel, because of the things which we suffer. And the Lord becomes the Author of Salvation to those that OBEY him. I don't know any other way that could be clearer. 

I am grateful for my time as a missionary. I have already learned a lot, and I will continue to learn. Thanks for all your prayers.  We are receiving a lot of investigators to the church, (Five this week, four of which we didn't even know, and many others that fell through), and we are finding many people to teach. 

Until next week.

Elder Connor Tracy
Colombia Bogota North Mission
September 2016 -- September 2018

OCTOBER 31, 2016

Elder Connor Ross Tracy
Colombia Bogota North Mission
September 2016 -- September 2018

10/31/16  5:54 pm

I'm here. An Elder left two blankets and a pillow at our house so we had to go three hours to take it to him. We left at 2 pm.
We took something called the Transmillenial. 



It's a bus that goes back and forth from everywhere in Bogota to Centro.  The middle of Bogota, from everywhere else in Bogota.  Our bus ride was an hour and a half, walk thirty minutes, bus ride back an hour and a half.

First week was an eye opener to what being a missionary is. I need to work harder.

So my area is called Granada.  I'm in Bogota, in District Cedros.  So the actual place I am serving now is Bogotá, in a smaller area of Bogota called Cedros.  My companion has been in this area a month and a half, but he's been out one year.  He's 27 years old, so he is an old bloke.

We live in an apartment meant for four missionaries, but right now there is just us, so it is nice.  My companion writes English but he doesn't understand or speak it.  It's really difficult for the Latinos to pronounce English for some reason. 

I should study Spanish but I haven´t been.  I read Book of Mormon or Bible for thirty minutes, memorize for thirty minutes, then companionship study a lesson, commandment, or chapter of Preach My Gospel. Everybody here is super Catholic, so they usually don´t want to hear about the gospel.

So my first Sunday was really interesting. We had a new investigator come and he stayed all three hours. His name is Diego Garcia. (lots of people here are Garcera, Garcia, Ramirez).  Anyways, he liked church, I think. 

I gave a talk in Spanish about missionary work.  It was probably five minutes like a youthie speaker.  But the special part about Sunday, it was missionary Sunday. There is only five young boys, about eleven, and four older guys 22-25 years old.  All of them pretended to be missionaries with us.  So we woke up an hour early, went to the chapel at 6:30 am, and had personal study, companion study, and other stuff with them. Then during Sacrament Meeting,we sang "We are all enlisted".  It was pretty bad. Also, there is nobody who can play piano, so a dude who plays violin accompanies everything.



  

After church, all the missionaries had lunch at different houses.  Then went and visited two in-actives, two investigators. We didn't get in any doors, but we found a new person to teach who lives near one of the in-actives. We went from 12 to 5 pm, and at 5 pm, we all regrouped and had a Testimony Meeting, and then went home.  We had dinner, then went to talk with an inactive of like twenty-five years. She runs a shoe shop. Anyway, we went there, I gave her a Book of Mormon, she said she might come to church next Sunday.   All good. 

At closing time, the guy next to her shop needed help reaching his little tarp to dangle in front of his shop to "close" it.  So I tried to help since I'm way taller.  I saw that the inactive lady had a footstool, so I went to grab it. But when I did, I bonked my head really hard on a glass shelf, and gave myself a 3 - 4 inch cut on my forehead. So now I look really stupid.  And I have a blister on one of my toes also.

 

I use the computer in Internet cafe's which are all over Bogota. I am not sure what part we are in.  But I think we're really close to the bottom half. I think we touch Bogota South Mission. But my Area is called Cedros. Few members, huge area.

I can communicate really well. I think I got the easiest South American Mission for white people, because they speak pretty clearly mostly and I can understand probably 70%, but I can't respond very good. 

Got $60 bucks in Bogotard money (200 mil pesos). That's enough for a lot of bread from the store, milk, and some meat.  Milk is pretty scarce here, and comes in a 450 ml bag. It´s super weird.  And they serve all drinks at room temperature. So it is also gross if you don't buy it from the store.  Anyway, my Spanish is coming along.  I can tell my problem is that I need to develop a vocabulary. I can kinda conjugate, but I don´t know any words.

Good news though.  We have four baptisms set for the 3rd of December.  But probably it won't happen because they didn't attend church this week, and they would need to attend all the rest of the weeks until then to be eligible for baptism.  It's my first family. It's a grandma, mom, and son and daughter. Leonor, Lucy, Diego and Allison. 

They fed us rice with milk, and it tastes a lot like oatmeal. It tasted really good.  Most of the food here is super bland. I miss the CCM, and the ability to have a lot of milk with frosted flakes for breakfast and dinner.  Here it's a little for breakfast, a lot a lot for lunch, and a bit of bread for dinner.  

I like the area, but I really wish we had bicycles.  It would make it really easy, although I´m not sure what we´d do with them once we arrive at an appointment.  But yeah, Colombia is very different from America, and I can´t believe that I've almost done two months. I also can´t believe that I have twenty-two more to go.

Also we blessed Leonor, and on the missionary Sunday.   I gave a blessing to the mom of a recent convert family. All good.

We teach this really old dude named Alfredo, and he doesn't remember any of the lessons we've given before. He's stuck in his house too, so he can't attend church.  But He did accept a baptismal date.  But he doesn't remember.  ha ha

Anyway, tonight there's a Halloween activity at the Capilla (Chapel). So I'm excited to go and have some dulces (sweets/candy).  

Anyway, we have been walking a lot, and teaching a little. My morning routine is wake up, take a freezing cold shower, and then study: one hour solo study, one hour companion study, 30 minutes Spanish, 30 for him to learn English.  I understand a lot, but I can't say what I want because I don't know the words.  Lots of stuff to do. 

My favorite food here is Arroz con Leche! It tastes like oatmeal. I also had cow stomach soup today, and other stuff. It was alright.

I am excited to be in Colombia. Not much more to say I think. 

I´ll talk to you next week. Expect me at 4:30 pm. I love all of you guys. Thanks for being good blokes.

The knot is pretty huge. I have a lot of Vergûenza because of it. (embarrassment).  Anyway I only have five minutes left. I like Colombia. The only thing I want right now is more food. 

I love you mom. 

I can't wait til I can see the end of my three months here (probably four and a half). I hope to reactive a lot of people and bring more souls to Christ.

The field is way different than the CCM. Because nobody speaks English, so I am now forced to speak Spanish. I really like Colombia. The food here is either mediocre or bad. But I am eating it all so the members will invite me back! We have either nothing, or eggs for breakfast. Then study, then we contact or teach a lesson, have lunch, and then work for another eight to nine hours contacting or teaching. A lot to do here. I know in three months this area will be totally different! 

So Colombians speak really easy to understand Spanish, So I am pretty well off in understanding. I can understand probably one out of three sentences. About the gospel probably three out of four.  

People here are either whitish, brown, or black. There aren't white people or Asians. So it's very different. 

Water is clean in Bogota, but nowhere else I think. So I am one of the places that is good for Gringos. In Mexico, a lot of words meant something, but don't mean anything here.  So a lot of my go-to phrases are now meaningless to the people here. Really common word is Chevere. It means lit, dank, or awesome. 

In the Mission there is a lot of opportunities llegar a ser humilde. (become humble). I am humbled because I don´t speak the language, somos rechazados por toda la gente, (rejected by everybody) and because I need to be a different person than at home or the CCM.  I want everybody to hear the gospel. I just need to work harder, just like we all do to become more like Christ.

I testify that in the mission, we need Charity. 

1st Cor. 13:1

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

describes what happens for missionaries who don´t have it. And likewise, we need to know the gospel. 

D&C 11:21

Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.

I have learned His word, but I don't yet love all the people. We were teaching an old guy named Alfredo Pachón, and during that lesson I knew I needed to love the people more, because I didn't feel super compelled to share anything but doctrine of the lesson. If we all could have charity, it would be well with us in the last day. We all need to have this pure love of Christ.  Because without it, we are as tinkling brass. 

P.S.   Halloween is crazy here.  Everybody wears makeup three days in advance, and they say "quiero paz, quiero amor, quiero dulce por favor." (I want peace, I want love, I want sweets/candy please).  Funny.   And there are police everywhere.

Love you mom.

Elder Connor R. Tracy
Colombia Bogota North Mission
September 2016 -- September 2018

10/31/16 -- AM Emails from Connor

I'm on right now for a bit, but also at 4:30 I believe. I need to reprove my companion about how much he uses computers but my Spanish isn't good enough.

So my area of is called Granada. I'm in Bogota, in District Cedros.  So the actual place is Bogotá, in a smaller area of Bogota called Cedros.  My companion has been in this area a month and a half, but he's been out one year.  He's 27 so he is an old bloke.

We live in an apartment meant for four but just for us so it is nice.  He writes English but he doesn't understand or speak it.  It's really difficult for the Latinos to pronounce English for some reason. 

I should study Spanish but I haven´t been.  I read Book of Mormon or Bible for thirty minutes, memorize for thirty minutes, then companionship study a lesson, commandment, or chapter of Preach My Gospel. Everybody here is super catholic, so they usually don´t want to hear about the gospel

So my first Sunday was really interesting. We had a new investigator come. and he stayed all three hours. His name is Diego Garcia. (lots of people here are Garcera, Garcia, Ramirez). Anyways, he liked church I think. I gave a talk in Spanish about missionary work.  It was probably five minutes like a youthie.  But the special part about Sunday, it was missionary Sunday. There is only five young boys, about eleven, and four older guys 22-25 years old.  All of them pretended to be missionaries with us.  So we woke up an hour early, went to the chapel at 6:30 am, and had personal study, companion study, and other stuff with them. Then during Sacrament Meeting,we sang "We are all enlisted".  It was pretty bad. Also, there is nobody who can play piano, so a dude who plays violin accompanies everything.  

"Chevere." 
Chevere means lit or cool or dank. Really common word here.  After church, all the missionaries had lunch at different houses.  Then went and visited two in-actives, 2 investigators. We didn't get in any doors, but we found a new person to teach who lives near one of the in-actives. We went from 12 to 5 pm, and at 5 pm, we all regrouped and had a Testimony Meeting, and then went home.  We had dinner, then went to talk with an inactive of like twenty-five years. She runs a shoe shop. Anyway, we went there, I gave her a Book of Mormon, she said she might come to church next Sunday. 

All good. At closing time, the guy next to her shop needed help reaching his little tarp to dangle in front of his shop to "close" it.  So I tried to help since I'm way taller.  I saw that the inactive lady had a footstool, so I went to grab it. But when I did, I bonked my head really hard on a glass shelf, and gave myself a 3 - 4 inch cut on my forehead. So now I look really stupid. And I have a blister on one of my toes also. 

I don't need a new jacket.  Everything is fine, just super messed up from the rain.  A new copy of my patriarchal blessing would be good, but my other two are readable. We use Internet cafe's which are all over Bogota. I am not sure what part we are in.  But I think we're really close to the bottom half. I think we touch Bogota South Mission. But my Area is called Cedros. Few members, huge area.

I can communicate really well. I think I got the easiest South American Mission for white people, because they speak pretty clearly mostly and I can understand probably 70%, but I can´t respond very good. 

Got $60 bucks in Bogotard money (200 mil pesos). That's enough for a lot of bread from the store, milk, and some meat.  Milk is pretty scarce here, and comes in a 450 ml bag. It´s super weird.  And they serve all drinks at room temperature. So it is also gross if you don't buy it from the store.  Anyway, my Spanish is coming along.  I can tell my problem is that I need to develop a vocabulary. I can kinda conjugate, but I don´t know any words.

Good news though.  

We have four baptisms set for the 3rd of December.  But probably it won't happen because they didn't attend church this week, and they would need to attend all the rest of the weeks until then to be eligible for baptism.  It's my first family. It's a grandma, mom, and son and daughter. Leonor, Lucy, Diego and Allison. 

They fed us rice with milk, and it tastes a lot like oatmeal. It tasted really good.  Most of the food here is super bland. I miss the CCM, and the ability to have a lot of milk with frosted flakes for breakfast and dinner.  Here it's a little for breakfast, a lot a lot for lunch, and a bit of bread for dinner.  

I like the area, but I really wish we had bicycles.  It would make it really easy, although I´m not sure what we´d do with them once we arrive at an appointment.  But yeah, Colombia is very different from America, and I can´t believe that I've almost done two months. I also can´t believe that I have twenty-two more to go.

Also we blessed Leonor, and on the missionary Sunday.   I gave a blessing to the mom of a recent convert family. All good.

My companion, Elder Collahua, is from Lima Peru. He is 27 years old and he is a really interesting missionary.  I just need to work to love everybody. 

We teach this really old dude named Alfredo, and he doesn't remember any of the lessons we've given before. He's stuck in his house too, so he can't attend church.  But He did accept a baptismal date.  But he doesn't remember.  ha ha

I'll write for my blog tonight, I think I do need a card reader. 
I'll tell you for sure tonight, after I check if i can upload pictures.

I saw the group email. I will fire an email into it.

4:30 tonight.

One problem I do have, is all of a sudden my camera screen isn't working. It'll turn on, show me the waterproofing stuff, but afterwords It doesn't go into picture taking mode. It's charging at home right now, so I guess i'll see.

A word here that means rich. Pupi means rich, and Cheche (chichi) I'm not sure, means either crappy, or pee.

See you at 4:30 pm.

OCTOBER 28, 2016 -- UHH

October 28, 2016
12:57 pm


Not sure why I'm having two times to email in two days, but whatever. 

We had a District Meeting today and we ate yogurt in bread. Dinner here is always a few pieces of bread. It's all really good here and adds meaning to the scriptures where it says you need to work for your daily bread or please grant us our daily bread. 

Anyway, Colombia is crazier every day.  Lots of stuff to do.

Elder Connor Tracy
September 2016 --  September 2018
Colombia Bogota North Mission

OCTOBER 27, 2016 -- MESSAGE FROM ELDER TRACY

October 27, 2016


Hey, I'm in the field.  

I´m in Zona Granada. It is really big, and everybody has said it is the hardest in the mission. We probably walk 7-8 miles every day, and the food is pretty cheap. My Preparation Day will be Mondays and I think email is at 4:30 pm.  It gets dark here at 6 pm.   So it´s weird.

I think the reason they say it is hard is because it is super big, and there is only like 85 members.  So we don't have much to work with.  But yeah, my companion's name is Elder Collahua, and he is from Lima, Peru.  He's pretty cool, and he has been out one month on his mission.

For breakfast, I've been having a little bit of this weird cereal kinda like frosted flakes, with a rhino on the front. And lunch is a piece of corn, some meat, five slices of cucumber, and rice. Plus some juice that tastes like really unsweetened apple juice, but my companion says its like tomate de arbor or something like that. 

I´m not sure how much time I have so I´m just sending emails to people until my time runs out. A slang phrase here is Qwuo ¨q-o¨ parcero, which means whats up friend. Or Qate for parcero, but that is in Mexico. 

Also in Colombia, I understand people much better than in Mexico. They speak slower and there´s less slang or curse words. It´s pretty good weather here, not very hot in the afternoons, but pretty cold in the nights. I will try and figure out a way to send pictures. I had been using another kids thingy in my district. It was like an SD card reader. 

But yeah. 3000 pesos is 1 dollar, and a lot of things are dos mil. (2000). Bought bread for about 60 cents. About as much as in America. Also, in my taxi ride to my house, we got the driver to schedule lessons with the South missionaries since he doesn't live in the North boundaries. 

Anyway, we receive lunch every day but Sundays from a member who lives close by, and then i think normally dinner is from an appointment. We don´t leave the house until 11 am, so it is kinda boring in the mornings. The water here is safe to drink so I´m happy with that, and the shower is cold! There are a lot of dogs here too, and sanitation isn't great. Also, all YM stuff got ruined by rain!  Send me another patriarchal blessing, because both my copies are soaked. Anyway I love you mom. and dad!

10/25/16 -- MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT LANEY, COLOMBIA BOGOTA NORTH MISSION

OCTOBER 25, 2016

Elder Connor Ross Tracy

Colombia Bogota North Mission

September 2016 -- September 2018

October 25, 2016
Parque Nacional --  Bogota, Colombia

Dear family of Elder Tracy,

Your missionary arrived safely to the Colombia Bogota North Mission today.  We are so happy to have him in the Mission.  He was assigned a wonderful trainer and they left for their area today.  He is in good spirits and good health!  Thank you for sending such a great missionary!

President & Sister Laney

Mission Blog:

ourcolombiamission.com

Letter from Elder Connor Ross Tracy

10/25/16

Hola!  Estoy Bien.  I'm good.  Glad to be in the field.  My first area is Area Cedros -- Zona Granada.  Elder Collahua is my primero companero (first companion).  

I AM READY TO SERVE.

I had to wait a long time to get through Immigration.  One hour and thirty minutes.  But it was awesome. 

Anyway, I'm able to understand almost everything, but I can't really communicate anything.  

D & C 82:10 --

 I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.

Esta bien.  Y I'm excited to bring souls unto Christ.  Also, Bogota is awesome, but it's rained a lot both days I've been here (two).  I am with a good companion, and I am gonna get LIT!!

Le gusta eschuar de todos mis dias, o las cosas muy interesante?

Water here is gross.  Girls are very locos, y hombres feos.

Tell more people to write me.  Especialmente Susanna y Dad.

Gracias for being mis padres, and I love you guys.  

Tell Jon to be good, and Lonnie to send memes.

Chao --

Elder Conboy Tracy

"Una Colombiana, y algo tomer"  Un chiste -- a very funny joke.  It means a drink, and something to drink, but when you say "Algo tomar" it changes "una colombiana" to " colombian woman!  LOL

10/21/16 -- GRADUATED THE CCM (MTC)

October 21, 2016
Mexico City CCM (MTC)
5:30 pm.


I have been given five minutes to write and tell you guys about what my *flight¨plans are. I proceed to the field on the 24th of October. I have to be ready at 3:00 am, and I leave for the airport at 3:30 am. My flight to Colombia departs at 8:20 am and takes approximately five hours to reach our destination.

So basically today, Friday, we watched this really cheesy play about using members, and I am super excited to hit the field. I have been kinda slacking in my studying of Spanish but I will start doing more.  I hope that you guys are all doing well.  I received a ton of emails last week and I hope it keeps up!

Anyway, I am officially done with classes.  Saturday, we are taking pictures and doing whatever, and Sunday, we will do the same, just with more goofing off. 

Tell Dad I love him. And Willy. 

I am so ready to hit the field. I have decided from 
Alma 26:22 that my goal is 1000 baptisms.   

22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

I just have to work and get as close to that number as possible. I want to always be doing something, because I know how boring it is here. 

Anyway, I hope you guys are all doing alright and nobody has been hurt or done anything bad. I´m ready to leave, and Isaiah 40:1 "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God."  the people of Colombia! 


I love you mom. I'll talk to you soon.


Elder Connor Ross Tracy
Colombia Bogota North Mission
September 2016 - September 2018