Alright guys I'm sorry that my last letter was kind of all over the place but I forgot to take notes in my journal and go off of that. But First of all I am so happy to hear from you guys and that you are doing well. Dad how was your motorcycle ride. Mom how is work. And Shay I’m so freaking jealous of you that you get to swim, jump off rocks hurt yourself and all that good stuff. Let me know how school is going, XC and all your other activities like journalism and stuff. I sure love you all!
Ok so first I want to reitterate that Bogota is literally crazy. Crossing the streets is like a human game of frogger and just when you think the busses can’t get anymore full, there are still more people that squeeze on . I usually end up squished against a window or something like that. We get about 80 bucks every 2 weeks so I am doing pretty good with food. We eat lunches with members and outside of that I pretty much live off eggs, pancakes and top ramen. Shay if I could find Pasta Roni here I would totally be eating that like every night. We usually eat a big lunch and work through dinner then eat when we get home around 9 or 930. There have been some funny things that have happened to us lol. Like yesterdays lunch. Everything was pretty good except for this vegetable salad. haha you guys know how much I like vegetables. So I had finished everything but the salad and the sister said elder! eat your salad. It reminded me of 2 things, 1 dad always yelling at me to eat my food or he’d set the timer and 2 from napolean dynomite when napolean says Tina!! eat the Food! so I had a good chuckle. I could tell my comp didnt like it either but he ate his like a champ. Lol I ate it all and my face was sore afterwards trying not to grimace, and also gag it back up on the plate lol. Other funnies are that one lady we contacted said are you guys ready to jump out of the second floor if I let you come over. Because God gives missionaries wings and sometimes my door is locked. I didnt really understand what she was trying to say, but I think she was a little loco. Also we made a sign that said,” your family can live together forever” for one of our contacting activities. We asked a man to read it who always is joking with us missionaries but will never listen to our message. Anyways when he read it he said, su taverno esta abierto. your tavern is open. I about fell down on the street dying with laughter and I seriously couldn’t control myself for a good 5 minutes. It was freakin hilarious. Oh! also I forgot to mention in my last letter that Elder D. Todd Christopherson came and spoke to the Bogota north and south missions and also all the kids in the mtc. This was on Saturday so we got to go back to the Mtc for the conference. It was awesome and I got to shake his hand! Then he also spoke on Sunday at our stake center. I liked his Sunday talk better because a lady in front of me that I was talking with before the meeting started translating it for me in her broken English. Yes even though I dont want to admit it I am still not fluent. But I got to see Elder Albrecht again who was probably my best friend in the Mtc, also Elder hill, they were my favorites from the MTC.
Ok so I got to baptize my first person on saturday night!! I was so nervous cause she had a hard name to pronounce and I didnt want to mess up. But all went well except for I forgot to shut my eyes while saying the baptism prayer. Afterwards I was soooo happy and it was just an awesome night. Elder Suarez baptized a 16 yr old kid named Christian, he is gonna be a missionary in 3 years and he is so awesome. I baptized a lady named Sandra, she has 2 little girls Daniela and Gabriela and they are so cute! I have a great time trying to communicate with her because she is from the coast and speaks really fast lol. Oh I also learned something. Everything that can go wrong at a baptism will go wrong. We forgot that our investigators needed to have the holy ghost confimed on them in the same day because this last Sunday we couldnt do it because of the apostle. We needed a member of the bishopric to be present and on top of all that there was absolutey no hot water at all. The water in the font was frigid. Probably, the closest thing I'll get to baptizing someone in a lake or the ocean. So we started about an hour late but all went well after that. It was such a great night that I will never ever forget.
I love you guys soooo Much, You too shay! I pray for you every night! Oh dad, can you send me a leg workout that I can do without any weights. that would be awesome. ok im gonna attach some pictures so you guys can see what Ive been up to.
Elder Crook