8 Dec - lots of pictures. We can only guess . . .

He looks very healthy and happy.

Is that a statue of someone in the river?

Christmas in Colombia and my district is awesome!

So everyone here has the spirit of Christmas. Christmas in the mission is always my favorite time because it is the time when the people seem more spiritual. So it is easier to find new people and we have an excuse to sing to random people without it being to weird. And it gets even better because the church has release El es la Dadiva (I do not know what it is exaclety in English, He is the gift or something idk). Anyways it is awesome because we can show it to a lot of people. The church is also buying all of the advertisments in YouTube the 7th of December and the church has this baby plaung all of the time in time square. So this is pretty much the best time in the history of the world to be a missionary. The gospel is flooding the earth, in a way it never has before. 

And no, the people here do not have Thanksgiving so the decorate more for Christmas and actually start decorating en November so that everything is all decorated by December. 

Umm sadly I do not have a whole lot of time today because today we tried to see if they had shoes here in Colombia in my size because mine totally broke (like super duper uber broke) and I didn't want to wait for my package. So we went to like 10 stores and walked for hours and only found 2 pairs in my size and they were really expensive.

So i do not have a whole lot of time but I love you guys and talk to you next week
Elder Luke

PS: you should recognize the older woman in the back. We baptized her in Novermber. She and her daughter are posing with us. 

Global fans, deep thoughts, and dinosaurs

Hey Mom, 
there are some women in the branch who want your books so I don't know if any of your books are in Spanish.  One young women asked for Just one Wish and Deep Blue Eyes . . . But she also understands a little English if there aren't any in Spanish. She says that English would be fine. So yah, there are some people who want your books so idk if you could send some but I said that I would ask.

anyways love you

Elder Luke

After sharing an experience I had discussing some doctrine with someone who has decided to leave the church after 30 years, Luke made the following observations

Well that pretty much is why we can't be complacent and have the attitude that all is well in Zion. Because then we do not try do grow and build and strengthen ourselves. The first time that a trail or challenge comes, they fall. That is also why I am not going to raise my kids in Utah. Because the weakest missionaries I have seen come from there. Because they never see opposition (or they see a lot less of it) so they never grow. But something like that happened here in the mission. A missionary received a letter from his dad that said 115+ reasons why I have decided to leave the church. A lot of them were stupid.

It is interesting because in the war chapters in the Book of Mormon if you read it carefully you will realized that the biggest problems (for the Nephites) and the root of a lot of their problems were not the Laminates . . . the enemies were apostate Nephites

And so it is and so it will be with the church. I think it's because alot of people think all is well in Zion

Here are a few funny P-day fotos. Pretty random statues

God's plan of happiness

17 Nov 2014
Hey so I would like to share will you guys a couple of scriptures that I have found that you can use to talk about each point of the Plan of Salvation. 1) for your personal growth and 2) to help know where the doctrine is in the scriptures and 3) to help you explain better God's plan to others. I hope that you will take the time to look at each one of these scripture and I hope that you will put them in a scripture journal with your thoughts about them.

I am going to put the names in Spanish because it is easier for me. I will also explain a few things about some of the verses but you should really read this with your scriptures in hand to under stand it.  

THE PRE-EARTH LIFE / WHERE DO WE COME FROM?

jeremías 1:5 

efesios 1:4

1 pedro 1:19-20 these 3 scriptures talk about how people were called to a work before they were born or before the foundation of the world 

eclesiastes 12:7 the word return is deliberately used here meaning to go back to a place we have already been

proverbios 8:22-27 so who wrote proverbs... it was solomen proverbs 1:1

he is talking about himself here in these scriptures and verse 30 reveals to us that he took part in the creation of the world. this is cool because we have very few names of people who participated in the creation all though we know that many did.

moisés 3:5 (I think that this scripture is the most obvious but it can lead to other questions like whether rocks have spirits or a form of intelligence . . . also . . . there is a commandment that would shouldn't show the Pearl of Great Price to people who aren't believers... because the Book of Mormon is part of their test of faith. and if they don't have believe in the basics then the greater light is with held from them to their condemnation.  

(Also I do not have time to tell you all my thoughts about every scripture but if you have questions or want to know my thoughts about a specific scripture you can ask me and I will tell you

WAR IN HEAVEN

now I know that there are more scriptures in the Old Testament that talk about this topic about how Satan fell but i do not have them with me 

Apocolipsis/Revelaciones 12:3-9 Juan is a little symbolic cause that is just how he his . . . the dragon is Satan that is explained in vs 9 and the 3rd part of the stars are the 3rd part of the gods children that followed him. Satan's angels, the spirits who followed him, were considered angels until the were thrown out of the heaven

2 Nefi 2:17 it is always god to show that the Book of Mormon supports and clarifies many things of the Bible.

CHRIST CREATED THE EARTH UNDER THE DIRRECTION OF GOD

efesios 3:9

hebreos 1:1-3

colosenses 1:15-17 i think these are pretty self explanatory... but some people think that Christ creating the earth is a Mormon doctrine but it is really a Bible doctrine

THE FALL 

Wow I think that this is a topic that is hard to understand for many people. It is still something that I do not fully understand. It is really important to understand it. You need to understand the purpose of the creation of the earth but if you do not understand the Fall you will not be able to understand the Atonement. Anyways I do not have time to share with you all the scriptures I have about the fall with my comments

But here are a few:

2 Nefi 2:22-25 explains that it had to happen. Umm some day if you want I can send you the 10 (short pgs because my note book is small) of scriptures and comments from the bible supporting this Book of Mormon vs. bc there are some people who do not want to accept it but the short story is that it is true and that it had to happen. 

Some people think that Satan frustrated God's plan (and that God's plan was for all of us to be in the garden for ever) but lets examine that for a moment . . . God is all powerful and all knowing, so would it be possible to destroy the plan of an all knowing all powerful being? Especially if you are not all powerful and all knowing???? Ahhh no

So let's go back to 1 pedro 1:19-20. It explains that Christ was chosen to be the Savior of the earth before the earth was formed . . . before the garden . . . before Adam and Eve . . . before the fall. God already had a Savior . . . Why? Because He knew that it was going to happen, because it was part of His plan.

THE EXPIACIÓN OF CHRIST

2 nefi 2: 7-8 I think that this is one of my fav scriptures, especially about the atonement of Christ . . . while you are reading this ask yourself, 'what does grace mean? what does mercy mean? what to merits mean?'

juan 3:16

THE SPIRIT WORLD

juan 5:25 and 28

1 pedro 3:19-20

1pedro 4:6

alma 40: 11-12

THE RESURRECTION

acts 24:15

1 corintios 15:20-22

alma 40:23

SIDE NOTE!!!!!! some people think that Christ resurrected Lazuras (thanks to the Jehovah's Witnesses) but it is not true!!!!!!!!!!!!  It wasn't a resurrection, that was reviving. How do we know that? Because Christ was the first to resurrect. acts 26:23 and 1 corintios 15:20

FINAL JUDGEMENT (I don't remember if judgment has a 2nd e or not... but don't focus on the symbols on the pg focus on what they mean)

2 cort 5:10

3 ne 27:14

juan 5:22-23 mmm interesting

KINGDOMS OF GLORY 

D and C section 76

1 corintios 15:40-41

2 corintios 12:2 can there be a third heaven without a second and a first? no you can not. so there are 3 if you don't understand the verse I can explain it . . . Actually I will just do it now. It says Paul knows a man (the summery at the front tells us that it is Paul himself, but it is easier to explain it to someone by just saying that Paul knows the person) that 14 yrs ago had a vision. Then Paul says that he is not sure if the person was physical taken to the third heaven or only saw it spiritually. but God knows. The important part is that someone saw the 3rd heaven

Freak that is a lot but if you want to understand Gods plan for you better, you should study it and be valiant and not a lazy bum. because you will read in section 76 that el reino terrestre is for those who are not valiant

Love, Elder Luke

10 Nov 2014

Well I hope that everyone is doing well. I was a little sad to find out that there is no Thanksgiving in Colombia. I suppose that it makes sense because it has to do with the Pilgrams who came from England to the United States. But I always enjoy eating lots of delicious food and then sleeping on the couch. I suppose I did get one Thanksgiving on the mission in Washington so  that is pretty cool.  I just started realizing that i am on second and lasts with holidays. For example, I had my last Halloween of the mission. This past Halloween I was thinking, "oh so this is what Halloween is like in Colombia. Now i know what to expect for next year. Since it was my first one in Colombia I thought that I was going to get another one . . . and then I remembered the one I had in Washington. Sooo ya, that was a little weird.

I have 2 theories about the second coming. First, I think Christ will come on a rainy day because it rained Sunday and half of the branch didn't show up. And second, i think that it will be a General Conference. I mean how else is it going to be published to all the world. 

I was imagining that the other day. Someone from the First Presidency directing the meeting and saying we will now listen to the choir sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic and then Christ will address us . . . That would be pretty crazy. Like the time when we were in Hawaii and we all went snorkeling instead of watching Conferenece and Asenath was all upset that she couldn't go and then she told us that the missionary age had been lowered and we thought she was just trying to get back at us and then it really had but we didn't know because we were not watching . . . ya that was pretty embarrassing. 

So I had a bunch of scriptures that I wanted to share with you guys today about the plan of salvation but I forgot to bring my scripture journal so you I guess you won't get the knowledge that will almost take you to a high mountain where visions take place. But I will give it to you guys next Monday because it is tots bosssssssssssss

I lurvs you guys  

Elder Luke

Transfer - I'm Staying, but not my Companero

3 November 2014
Hey fam how is it going? So today there are transfers and my comp left. Tomorrow I will be with a new comp. Also I am now the District Leader but that pretty much means that I get to work more. But that is fine.

My comp and I had a baptism this week so that was awesome. 

los misioneros están felices a pesar del calor y bautismo 

One of the things that we started doing is singing hymns before every lesson. Our lessons seem to be more powerful when we do that. A women and her daughter decided to leave the church over something really stupid. The girl wanted to go to BYU but to get in she needs to go to seminary. She never went to seminary and then they went to the Branch President and asked him to sign off her seminary card thing saying that she had gone to seminary so that she could go. The President said he wouldn't (because that would be dishonest) and so they left the church . . . soooo yay. I am going to vist them tonight and will see how it goes. The church is really just starting here so there are always stupid things that happen. We will see how it goes.

We are still teaching bible classes in the church and it has been going pretty well. We have 4 to 6 people who attend regularly but hopefully more will come after this transfer. Were trying to teach the masses. Sooo that is what's up. I have to go and lets be honest I know that Asenath never reads the whole thing if it is long so I guess I will keep it short. 

Love you guys, Luke

Short and to the Point

October 27 2014
Hey mom everything is going great here. We should have a baptism this Saturday. My comp and I found a ton of people to teach this week so things are looking pretty good. Transfers are coming up and I will probably get a new companion. But we will see what happens.
Love, Luke

1000's of words (photographs)

13 October 2014
Fotos!!!!!
First let me say we have a cool zone. The entire zone is as large as my district was in Spokane. We recently did a service project to paint a school.

 

Of course the room I worked in was the best painted! 

 The Awesome Zone

Things have been going well. Here I am cleaning the baptismal font because we had some baptisms.

It is probably the coolest baptismal font I have seen. The only problem is that it takes foreverrrrrr to fill up.

Here we are about to put the font to good use!

Remember when I said I've eaten ants?  Well here is a foto of one of the little beasties, hormiga culona. People fry them up with butter. I didn't think they tasted all that good. A little crunchy.

This is kind of our backyard. Big industrial place across the river.

 And these our some of our neighbors . . . they are not very receptive

 Sorry for the last photo Mom. You don't need to worry. The alligator is busy eating ants! 

Love, Luke

On occasion I do get sick . . .

6 October 2014

Well I was thinking for a moment, "Wow, I'm not sure what to write about because I don't remember doing a whole lot this week or what happened. I realized that it was because I got sick this week and had to stay in the house for a couple days and then we had conference. Our Mission President makes us watch conference because he says that he does not want the following scene to happen, because it has in the past.

(bad missionary) Hello we are here to talk to you about how God has come down to earth with his son and called a prophet. and how God has newly blessed us with prophets and apostles.

(investigador) you are telling me that there is a prophet in our days?

(b m) Yes

(i) And he is in your church?

(b m) Yes that is what we know to be true and what we teach

(i) Wow that is amazing! What is the last thing that your prophet said to you?

(b m) Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

(i) Oh, so the man you say is a prophet must not be that important if you don't take the time to listen to him

That would be a little embarassing. So we have to know what the prophets says especially since that is one of the greatest differences between us and other churches is that we have prophets.

But yah. I was pretty sick for a few days so I did not do a whole lot. I am not sure what it was maybe the water, or the misquitos, or a bad fish that someone gave me . . . but its all good because I feel fine now. 

We are working with this girl named Shirly (who is a recent convert) to baptize her mother. So things are going really well with that. She is attending church and reading the Book of Mormon and she attended conference with us. So things are looking really good. Her baptismal date is October 25th. We have a famliy home evening with her and another family of recent converts tonight! I am not sure what we are going to teach yet but whatever it is its going to be super spiritual and powerful. A spirtual roundhouse kick to the face the will leave you and your mother weeping . . . that is the goal! (parental comment - interesting metaphor, and graphic)

 

I have been studying the life of Alma the younger and what kind of missionary he was. My goal is to become a missionary like him. He was a powerhouse. I made a list of his missionary attributes and where they can be found in the scriptures . . . but alas . . . I forgot the list. So maybe next week I will send it, idk. 

 

By the way James. I saw your youtube videos of your comics that you drew I thought they were pretty funny. But you should take a 2 year break from drawing comics and attend to the other more important things that you have to do. You should fulfill your duty to the Lord.

 

Matt 6:33 'Look first for the kingdom of God and all other things will be added to you'. If you go on a mission first and then focus on the other things the Lord will bless you with more éxito then if you had never gone on a mission and had stayed at home doing whatever it is that you do.

Love, Luke

Crazy Cuisine

29 September 2014

hey fam and friends whats up? we have played soccer every P-day since I have been here so I am getting pretty good. On another note, we basicly have no food in the house but I think that we get our asignation tomorrow. I do not know why they don't give us the money on p days so that we can go shopping like we are supposed to. Whatever. 

 

So this week was pretty awesome my companion and I sat down Thursday to do our weekly planning and we started setting goals. At the beginning of the week we didn't have anyone with a baptismal date. We set some inspired goals to help us work more effectively and now we have 3 people with a baptismal date. So that is really cool.

 

One of our investigatores invited us over to eat today so (and since we don't have any food . . .) so of course we accepted. We were given fish and arepas . . . and I realized something today . . . the water in Barranca has the same taste as fish. That  is just how fancy we are over here - the water has the same taste as the food. I am joking. I'm pretty sure that means the water is dangerously dirty. 

 

That's pretty much the update of the week. We are working and sweating and we are sweating even when we aren't working. And in case you guys are wondering if I have been eating crazy things here, here is a list of wierd things that I have eaten:

chicken feet, cow udder, cow tongue, cow liver, cow stomach, ants (hormigas culonas), and fried pig skin. mmmmmm yummy and I eat rice rice rice rice rice and more rice.

Love, Luke

The BEST mission in the world

September 22 2014
Well family, this week has been pretty much like a normal missionary week: visiting people, finding people, dropping people, being dropped by people. We had transfers this week but nothing has changed with me and my companion. However there is one missionary here who has only been here for one transfer. He is a Greeny and he is not getting along with his trainer. He was praying for a transfer and got transfered . . . and he told us 'Wow! Now I know that God answers prayers." It is kinda sad that he had such a bad experience with his first companion. But it happens. I guess its one of the ways God helps his missionary develop patience.

Interestingly enough the most common thing that I think we have had to teach this week is about polygamy. That is kinda wierd all of the members had questions about it. So we have taught all the members in our area about polygamy and temple sealings and things like that. That was thanks to Elder Joseph F Smith and the book Teachings of the Presidents that mentioned he was sealed 3 times . . . so that was fun.

But its always an adventure here. Like today for example we do not have water in the house and I have to wash all my clothes . . . but I think that it is these little trials that make life fun.

Good quote from Helen Keller: 'Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."So I figure life would be pretty boring if I had a wahing machine and water all of the time or even warm water. No actually it is so hot here that I dont think I would use warm water even if I had it. 

 

I have only had like 3 or 4 woman ask me if I wanted a wife or girlfriend or if they could come back with me to the United States. I think it is because I am in a smaller city so it doesn't happen as often.

But all and all its pretty awesome here I am pretty sure I have the best mission in the world.

Love, Luke

Has the day of miracles ceased? No!

15 September 2014

Well Saturday we had two baptisms. Let me tell you a little bit about it. So we went to the church at 10:30 to clean the baptismal font. Everything was good. We left to go visit people and find clothes for the people that were going to get baptized and other important stuff like that.

 

We arrived back at the church at 4 pm for the 5 pm baptism. We turned on the water to start filling up the font.... and there wasn't any water . . . well not exactly, the water spout was spouting out water really really slowly. And then we realized something else - there was nothing to stop the drain. And then we realized something else - I didn't have pants to baptize because I had left them in Cucuta. And then we realized that we couldn't get into the font because on either side of the font the doors were locked. And then we realized something else - the library was locked so we couldn't get hymn books. I think that about sums it up. It was not looking very good. 

 

The other 4 missionaries arrived later with investigatores of there own that were going to watch the baptisms and we told the the problems that we had. So we decided to go into the other room and say a prayer because we needed some milagros.

 

First, we found a bouncey rubber ball. I am not sure where it came from or why it was in the church but it was perfect to close the drain. Second, one of the missionaries had a pair of pants to baptize and they fit me perfectly. Third, one of the missionaries was able to pick the lock on the locked door on the men's side so we could enter the baptismal font. Fourth, one of the missionaries felt impressed before he left the house to bring 4 extra hymn books, and since every other missionary had their own hymnal we didn't need to get into the library. The water was only up to my knees but we didn't have any more time so we went to do the baptisms. The locked door to the girls side was magically (or miraculously) opened, which was really good because we were baptizing a woman and her daughter. Even though water was only up to my knees the baptisms were done without any problems.

Everything changed from the moment that 6 misionarys suplicated the Lord through prayer, for miracles. Now looking back on the event I realized saw several. I saw his hand that night. The Lord's spirit was with us in the ceremony. The mother we baptized had tears of joy as she came out of the water. 

 

Well the biggest challenge of being a missionary in Colombia is . . . one moment to create suspense . . . wait for it . . . duh dah - La Unión Libre. The prophets have prophesied that the plan of Satan is to destroy the family and make a mockery of the law of chastity. And he has been rather successful here in Colombia. The missionary who can help the people have the desire to live the law of chastity will have great success here in Colombia. I am not able to express my feelings about this. I wish you guys could see and hear what I see and hear. Anyways I am not going to talk anymore about this today.

 Love, Elder Luke

Photos from Barranca

8 September 2014

So for my birthday some of the members did a little party so that was cool.

My comp and I are fighting evil (Here's a picture to worry mothers)

I just want you guys to know the only reason I send goofy photos is because the only time we have to take photos is when we are goofing off. So here's a picture of my new companion. We work hard. We work when its time to work and we goof off when its not time to work

 

 This is what I caught a few minutes ago

These final pictures Luke stated, "We might have had to take out a few drug lords."

(Luke seems to be really enjoying this.)

I'm sure this is the local soldiers thanking the Elders for their fine work.

Don't leave your keys in the door lock . . . just saying

1 September 2014 (Luke is now one year older - Happy Birthday Elder Rallison 8/31)

Hey fam and friends so this week has been pretty fun so I would like to share a few things that have happened in the course of this week. So this week started off really well. We have a family here (they are recent converts) and they are introducing us to all of their friends and neighbors and their other family members. So that is really awesome. On Monday we went and visited them and it was awesome. And then we got a call from our zone leaders.  Our zone leaders told us that we could not visit that family any more because a missionary (8 months ago) kissed the lady and got sent home . . . so that was not fun to hear especially since they give us more referencias than anyone else. Disobedient missionaries ruin everything. 

We have been working with a woman named Patricia and this week we had a few good lessons with her. She has a difficulty that I wont share with you guys but she broke down and just started to cry and cry and cry and so we did what I think all missionaries do in that situation. My companion and I looked at each other and we started praying in our heads and the spirit started guiding us and by the time we left she was calm and there a peaceful feeling in the room and she had a the resolve to overcome everything and we were all feeling really good.

The next day we visited Patricia to see how she was doing and she was super happy and smiling and laughing and we confirmed that she was going to come to church with us and she said that she was. And then she asked us a question I have never had anyone ask me. "¿Do the people sing alabanzas and clap in your church?"

" Umm no . . ."

"¡Whhhaaaaaat! ¿Why not? How can you worship the Lord without clapping your hands?

She was super confused and I am not sure why but focused on that and so we talked a little bit about that. She finally said, 'well I guess I can't judge a church before going and seeing how it is. And so I give you my word that I will go with you guys this Sunday. Because it is the spirit that will convince me.' 

So Sunday we show up at here house to show her how to get to the church because it was her first time. As we were walking up to the house, she came out, all dressed up ready to go to church. and then a car pulled up and she got in and left (but she didn't see us). so my comp and I were like what just happened?¿?¿?¿? 

We called her and she said . . . Oh sorry something came up and . . . then she hung up sooooo we are going to visit here tomorrow to find out what the what with her.

Later that night we walked by a house and the keys to the house were still in the door knob. in Colombia (at least where I have been in santander) there isn't a door knob on the out side just a key hole and the key is used to open the door. And someone left the keys in the door. 

So my comp and I thought he we can do a service here, knock on the door and tell the person that their keys are in the door and then we can try to contact the person. So we knocked on the door someone came to the window saw us (didn't know that we saw them) and went back to doing what they were doing. 

So I was like what the heck! That person just rejected us before they had the chance to hear . . . that we were there to serve them . . . So I opened the door and stepped in the house. In the front room there were 6 people watching TV. I scared all of them I'm sure. I said you left your keys in the lock and put the keys down and left . . .

But the look on all of their faces when I entered their house was pretty funny.

But hey, there are lots of people who reject us before the know why were are there. I guess they reject the Lord more then us because we are there to represent Him. But here is the thing: 

Getting rejected for the Lord's sake is much better the being accepted for the worlds sake.

Love, Elder Luke

25 Aug 2014

Wow, it is weird to hear about all of the changes that are happening in the house. It is weird to think that maybe only mom and dad and Arianna will meet me in the airport. Life is changing a lot. But hey I am sacrificing two years from you guys so that other people can have a family forever. 

Something a little sad/ funny is that some people do not what to have a family forever . . . I don't know. For example just the other day we were talking to a couple and we asked the dad/husband in the family would you like to be together forever with your spouse and he said no no oh no no no. We were like what? why? And then he told us that he was only there because he had kids with this woman and he is staying there for the kids and that he is unhappy a lot of the time . . . Soo the law of chastity is really important.

But hey, I wouldn't mind being with you guys forever I imagine that it will be really cool. Especially with all the blessings that we will have. 

I was thinking the other day (this is doctrine according to 2nd Luke) that the difference in the celestial world and the terrestial world is that one will have eternal progression in the real world and the other will have progression in a virtual world. Let me explain. The people in the celestial who are like god will have the power to create real worlds and the people in terrestial will be playing mind craft or something like that and will be creating things in a virtual world mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

I would like to be creating real things instead of virtual things

 

I imagine that the people in the lower worlds won't have anything better to do so they will play video games. 

Hey mom I was wondering if you would be able to put some names in the temple from me . . . I am assuming that you are going to say yes so here the are.

Sulema y Michelle

Orlando

Angélica  

Tania 

Gustavo y Maria 

Patricia 

Juan Muñoz 

and Elder Sac my comp also wants his name in the templo so that he can learn English faster

Soooooo if you could get those in there some time today that would be great . . . especially since the temple is only 7 mins away and you should probably be going like once a week anyways

Love, Elder Luke

Hottest spot in the mission is still not as hot as Arizona - 18 Aug 2014

Hey. So I do not think Barranca is as hot as Arizona. So far it hasn't been to bad. It is the hottest place I have been in in the mission though. It is really super green here though. So that is weird that it is hot but green. I don't know. For me hot is associated with death and burnt things and the desert.

My companion looks like a Latin Travis Talbot so that is pretty weird. I will have to send you guys a picture next time. I do not have a lot of time. Today is a festivo so nobody works so it wasnt until now (late in the day) that we found an internet cafe open

But life is good and that is pretty much all I have time to say

Love, Elder Luke

Final pictures from Cucuta.

12 August 2014
I've been transferred to Barranca. I guess it's not totally unexpected. It's the hottest area (temperature wise) in the mission. I'll be getting on a bus at 8pm tonight and will drive 8 to 10 hours to arrive at my new area. I went and said my despedidas (good-byes) to some members and investigatores and it was pretty sad. But that is how the mission is. You just do what the Lord wants. Things will work out for the best.

Meanwhile, here are some photos from P-day at different parts of Cucuta.
First the bowling alley. We had a good time here. Who knew it was an entire mall.

Here is a picture of an insect that attacked me right in my face . . . I was just minding minding my own business and all the sudden it was all in my face . . . and so a battle commenced and I won.

We spent a lot of time playing in / on this destroyed church

my comp and I trapped inside the little jail thingy. 

I found an ancient gymnastics mushroom that I could use to do gymnastics

But who need a mushroom! 

For all you who bash Assassins Creed because the guy could climb up buildings and they said that no one would actually build a building like that were you can just climb up . . . I would like to submit evidence one

I am in a tree ! A very large tree.

So this young lady is covered in egg and flour that is because that is socially acceptable to do to someone on their birthday. Jejejeje

Not that we Elders would ever do anything like that. 

As a farewell gift, a member drew me on a globo (balloon).

Like is good. The Church is true. Love, Elder Rallison

Revelations and Understanding

Hey guys I wanted to share with you a reason that we ought to read the Book of Mormon more. There are lots of reason that we should read the Book of Mormon but here are some especially awesome ones.

Our 9th article of faith states that, "we believe that . . . God will reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God." God had many more things that he can reveal. God says to Moses that His works have no end and His words never cease. The Book of Mormon tells us 3 of the things that god has yet to reveal to us.

 

First, 2 Nephi 29:11-13 the lord states that there will be a book reveled (or books) from the lost ten tribes of Israel. And that it is from these books (Bible, Book of Mormon, and this other book or books from the 10 tribes) that we will be judged

 

Second, 3 Ne 26:6-11 in this part of the Book of Mormon Christ is in the Americas visiting the ancient inhabitants of the land. Mormon says  that he can not write a hundred part of the acts Christ did. But he was at the point of writing 'mayor cosas' but the Lord stopped him from doing it. It says that the things that we have now are the 'menor parte' and that we have these things to prove our faith. If we do not cherish these things that we have, if we do not read and study and apply the things that we have the Lord will not give us more and the 'mayor parte' will be with held to our condemnation. 

 

Why would the Lord give us more revelation if we do not know and understand the revelations that He has already given to us?

 

And third, Ether 4:4-7 I hope that you know the story of the Brother of Jared and how he saw Christ. He was the first who saw Him completely and realized that Christ was going to take upon Him a body of flesh and bone. But he saw Christ  and his faith was so strong that the veil was taken from him and the Lord could not withhold anything.

 

Moroni says that the Brother of Jared saw greater things than any other man. That is to say that from Adam down to Moroni nobody had seen anything greater than what the Brother of Jared saw.

Moroni wrote those things in the gold plates and sealed them up. That part of the Book of Mormon was never translated by Joseph Smith. The Lord says that when we repent and become clean and have faith like the faith the Brother of Jared had then we will be worthy to know the things that he knew.

 

Presidente Benson said (and I am not quoting perfectly) that we as a people and as a church have fallen under condemnation we because we are not taking the Book of Mormon seriously. We need to read it and study it more than we are and we need to know Christ more than we know Him. The Book of Mormon is a test of faith and a pathway to greater light and truth and knowledge and we must read and understand it.

 

The Lord has many more thing prepared for us it is, we, who are unprepared.

No Easy-Bake Oven . . . muy triste

28 July 2014

So this week we had a baptism de una joven named Wendy. She is really smart and I am sure that she will progress well in the gospel. We had the baptism Saturday. I had some ingredients left over to make cookies so I thought, 'hey lets make this even a little more cool and make cookies'. A member family told us that they had an oven and that we could do the cookies there so it was perfect.

When we went to the member's house we discovered it was an old gas oven. I didn't know how to turn it on . . . and they didn't know how to do it either . . . We tried a couple times and almost exploded ourselves . . . Not really. That was kind of a joke. Then we got a neighbor to come do it. 

 

I asked for their cookie sheets and they gave my this piece of metal that had the capacity to cook 2 cookies. Ugh. 25 minutes later we had 8 cookies . . . and my comp and I had to go prepare for the baptism. So we asked the member if they could keep baking cookies and then bring them. They said that they were more than capable.

 

A series of unfortunate events later . . . The baptism had started and ended and was pretty good and super spiritual. We went to eat the cookies. These are the cookies I had been bragging about all week to the members because they do not have cookies here or do much baking.  So we all went to eat the cookies. But in place of a plate of cookies was a plate of burnt crisps . . . Apparently the family thought that they should re-heat up the cookies again before leaving. They then explained to me that something strange had occurred. When they put the cookies back in the oven they were really good. But when they took them out they were not so good . . . Sooooo the moral of the story is that you should not brag, ever.

The baptism was really good and we have some strong converts. I have been focusing on recent converts more than anything else. I do not want any of them to fall away. Half of our lessons that we do weekly are to the recent converts. 

We are building good relationships with some of the members. When we arrived here, none of the members would accompany the missionaries. Now we have a group of people who are willing to acompany us all day. 

 

Working for the Lord is the best work that there is. It is sometimes the hardest and it certainly doesn't pay the best, but it is the most rewarding. I have run out of doubts. I know that the church is true and I know that God loves me. I have learned alot about him because I have worked with him. God is so willing to bless those who put there confidence in Him.

 

Love, Elder Rallison

 

Cucuta, a place to do what is needed, not whatever you want - or so the sign says.

Interesting sign in Cucuta  (14 July 2014)

 (If you want to do whatever you want please leave Cucuta)

hey family, what is up? Life is pretty good here. I do not have any complaints. The independence day of Colombia was yesterday and nobody did anything and I thought to myself surely this means something. If the people do not love their country enough to celebrate its birth, surely that must say something about the quality of the country hmmmmm.... idk.

We had a baptism set up for 2 weeks  ago, I didn't tell you last week because I didn't write anybody because we were buying stuff for a missionary activity. Our investigator got chicken pocks right before her baptism . . . so we are going to baptize her this Saturday. We are working hard here.

 

The biggest problem that exists here is that the people are not married. Almost nobody is married by law. We have 3 people who want to get baptized but can't because the are not married and living with someone and have kids with this person and can't separate . . . so I hope that we are going to marry a lot of people in the following weeks. We will see. We are working on it. 

 

I do not know how it is in other missions or other areas but in my experience people we come up to me without having known me before and will introduce themselves to me and then tell me their life story and all their problems . . . and that is a little weird that people seek counsel from a 20 year old stranger from another country who they have known for 5 minutes . . .

I think it is weird that we the missionaries who do not have a whole lot of life experience have the trust and confidence of members and investigators and strangers and that these people want our help to fix their lives.

 

Jonathon one of our investigators told us, 'I do not want to get married. I have never like the idea and have never thought of myself as being married.' We taught the plan of salvation and I shared D&C 131 or 132 (i don't remember which) (and this is not something I would advise sharing usually but I don't know, I felt it) which says in the celestial kingdom there are 3 degrees and to obtain the highest we have to be married. The next time we came to the house he told us 'Elders i am thinking about getting married and I have created a plan to save money to buy a ring.' So that was really cool.

 

Yah, its the vida misional. Doing what has to be done.  

Love, Elder Rallison

what was it like when Colombia was playing in the world cup?

4 of us in the house of a member watching the first game of colombia in the world cup .... and something else i do not remember what the other picture was

It had been a long time since i had used electric stairs I had forgotten how to do it.

we found this house that looks like a castle (it IS a castle) in our area so we were like hey lets take pictures. and then I was like hey lets play on it . . . soooo we did

 

 This is a shout out to the Strong family. I've scaled their walls a few times! Ha!

this is a party that we had with an exploding candle

The first foto is the guy whose whiskey we stole jajajaja. He is a little crazy and he also likes making us hamburgers . . . I feel like we have a pretty good relationship (notice the ankle weight?)

 the second is our district... I hate suits

 

 Lastly, here's a cool kid. His whole family got baptized.