First week in Colombia

November 30, 2009

Hola Mi Familia,

Esta muy dificil para hablar in Ingles pero Yo tratare. Ok, first thing is that because the keyboards are different I can´t figure out how to do smiley faces like I usually do so just know that I´m smiling nonetheless.
Colombia . . . you wanna know some of the things I experienced my first week
1. Me being the only white guy on the plane to Bogotá and being all alone I had the privilege of having all eyes on me. "Si. Yo soy gringo. Como puedo ayudarle"
2. Saw soldiers walking down the streets with AK47´s - that was cool.
3. I didn´t meet my companion till Wed. and I had a temp companion take me around down town to do all my legal paperwork. ha, I talked to everyone I could in Spanish. I could tell my comp didn´t like it. I discovered he gets embarrassed easily. However, from contacting, within the first hour I was so blessed to start speaking with a young man, proly early 20´s, named Carlos Pures, and he was very kind to help me with my bullcrap Spanish. We obtained his name and address and number and he said he was happy to meet with us. Later I found out he lives in the Bogota North boundaries so I had to hand him over. Grrrrr. It made me sad cuz he was my first potential investigator.

I´m glad to know that sister Casablanca sounded like she was glad I was here. I couldn´t really tell. I thought I´d get interviewed by President and get to know him and his wife but none of that happened. We proly only small talked for 5 minutes before I was given my mission location assignment and was off.
My companion is Elder Martinez. He´s a short Ecuadorian with glasses. He´s very nice, obedient, and has a huge desire to serve. We´re the only 2 missionaries in our area. It´s called patio bonito in the zone of Kennedy. It covers a huge area but I guess the Lord trusts it to us. Kinda scary. Elder Martinez said there hasn´t been a gringo here in this area for about 15 or 20 years. That scared me initially (and who knows, maybe it still does- but I´d never tell anybody that) but he said he thinks thats a really good thing in his eyes cuz he believes people will look w/ wide eyes and listen to what I have to say.One thing that frustrates me is that I wanna take pictures of this place and the people so bad but I can´t or else I´ll get robbed. One night after teaching a lesson they made me leave my wallet and camera with the member who was present during the lesson because of the probability of getting robbed. So I don´t know how i´ll take pics but i´ll figure out something.
I met a young man who is a communist named leonardo. ha, he´s a member too. He said he´s a communist cuz God is too.- don´t really know why i told you that.When i give the prayer at houses you can hear giggling around the table. It´s cool though. Soy gringo. No se nada. haha
Almost all roads are dirt ones. Everything is so humble here too. Much of the area, homes, and buildings have been severly troubled because of warfare but they make the best of it.
McDermott is soo hard for them to pronounce so many of them call me Elder Chevre. haha or in english Elder Cool. I get along great with the kids. They love to put on my glasses. I think that´ll be the death of my glasses but i´d do it 100 times over to see a small Colombian boy or girl brighten up with excitement of something new. I love when they smile.

Well family I love you all so much. I got your package the day I arrived. well the next day after the temple so I got it on thanksgiving. ha however, they don´t celebrate it so thank you for your gifts. I loved them so much. And got quite teary eyed over them. I´m not gonna come home early. I´m gonna serve with everything I got for the next little while. I gotta be good for something.I love every one of you and I hope you know that every day you are in my prayers.
With unwavering dedication,

Your Elder Chevre