Well tha’ts right we are some true
purpose completers this week. We had those 2 baptisms like I told you guys about
last week. They were great! We had one in the morning Saturday at 10 because
the lady (Marcella)´s husband had to work during the afternoon. So we had that
and our bishop baptized her and it was really, really great! I felt the spirit
very strong. Then we had the next one at 5 Saturday of a guy named Camilo, and
I baptized him. They both were really awesome and baptismal services are just
so much more awesome when you understand just a little bit more of what a baptism
is and what it means, so we had a pretty great weekend with their baptisms and
confirmations.
So I read all your letters before
hand this time so hopefully this letter will be a little longer and have a
little less potty humor lol:) You gotta admit my last letter was pretty funny.
So I´m glad you guys had a blast up in Bend and it’s good to hear that the new
bikes worked great, and that you’re ready for some more extreme stuff;) haha
sounds like a good way to end the summer. It´s so weird to think that mom’s going
to school already and that Shay already registered. Make this the best school
year ever!!! Good luck mom hope you had a great first day of work:) So mom we
don´t have those crazy free busses in our area, although I really miss them and
they made up the majority of my story telling material. Our area is relatively small so we have no
use for those beloved free, overfilled, wonderful buses. Also yes we have to do
a little more work being zone leaders. We started up meetings with the stake
presidency when I got here and yesterday had one with the district leaders and
all of the ward mission leaders, where we taught them a little more of their
duties as ward mission leaders. Other than that, we have been doing
intercambios as we call them here or ¨splits¨I guess, where the zone leaders go
with the district leaders and their comps for a day to see how they are working
and get to know the zone better. I got to leave the area one day this week, and
I secretly planned it the day that we had lunch with the vegetarian lady
WAAAAAA HAHAHAHA. I guess they had to ask her to put it in some tupperwares to
eat it at the house because the lady’s husband wasn’t home. Guess what happened
to the poop stew and rice........uhhh lets just say they made hot dawgs
instead, which I knew they would do lol. So we just do that and then give them
advice on how to be better. We also had interchanges with the assistants this
week which was really great! My comp had been throwin up all mornin and I was
trying my best to hone in on my motherly skills (which as you all know, are
quite horrible) when they got to our house. So one assistant stayed with him in
the house and I went and worked with the other one who is from Mexico. He
taught me alot about my question that I had the other week. He is a very
serious guy, but in the house and in the street we were talkin it up and
crackin jokes and just havin fun. But when we got into the lessons it made me
remember dad telling me to ¨flip that switch¨ more of a sports term but we can
apply it here. He was so focused and with the spirit. I think I´m getting
better at finding that happy medium. I had just been so uptight even during
p-days trying to ¨be a good example¨ but I have let myself have fun when the
time is right like dad says. This morning we were at the church playin soccer
and basketball, an elder from Brazil got to the church and I asked him if he
knew what Brazilian jiu jitsu was. Before he could answer me I had him in a
double leg and on his back in the grass:) He´s worse than Shay lol but he did
tell me that he had practiced a little bit of jui jitsu and tried a couple of
moves but he´s about Shays size so they didn’t really work. What that resulted
in was a mixture of MMA, Wrestling as I know it and a few fake WWE moves to
finish him off. After that no one wanted to face me!
So I´m going to tell you a few funny
facts about my comp now. This pàragraph will be dedicated to him. First of all,
he has one of the best names of all time: Juan de Dios Ezra Taft Perez. What a
powerful name, I sometimes call him John of God, and Ezra Taft as a middle name
PODEROSO if I call say so myself. Also he got the top part of his middle finger
cut off in a door when he was little. I noticed like the first week but usually
no one notices because it´s just a little shorter then his pointer and ring
finger and doesn’t have a nail. So whenever people find out we always think of
a new story to tell them, like he got hungry and ate it or it got cut off in
the meat grinder or stuff like that lol. So it´s fun to work and be with him, I
think he is the companion that I have most talked to and shared my life
with.
So here in Colombia I guess all of
the farmers are mad that the government doesn’t pay them very much so they
decided to go on strike and stop the flow of food to the cities. I´m not quite
sure on all the details but we had to go buy a little bit of ¨food storage¨ If
you guys want more details you should look it up cause I just know the basics.
But here in Bogota I havent seen a change, maybe in the coming weeks.
So to end I want to ask you a huge
favor pa, have you ever heard of a presentation called The trilogy of Skousen?
Well me and my comp were talking about some deep doctrine stuff and he showed
me this presentation that had been done in a mission conference in Atlanta by a
famous theologen whose last name is Skousen. It talks about all kinds of crazy
stuff and he has it in spanish. I read the first 5 pages this week but it´s in
spanish. I understand it, but it would be better in english. Could you send it
to me this next week, I would really really really appreciate it. Thanks! Also
we talked a lot about Jesus the Christ the book, and I realized that to be more
like Jesus I have to dominate my body and my spirit has to be stronger than the
flesh. So I have been hitting it hard (as hard as a missionary can) on the
exercises, so don’t worry about me comin home all gordito cause thats just not
going to happen. Also I wanted to finish saying that I love the quote that you
sent me mom! it¨s awesome and made me think about the scripture in 2 nephi 2:14
where there are 2 types of things in this world, things that act and things
that are acted upon. Or like the quote says, people that act and change their
environment and the people that let their environment change them and get them
down. I am striving, through small and simple things to change myself and be an
agent for good in the environment that I have been put in. LOVE YOU ALLL
-Elder Crook
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