Called To Serve: General Conference was Fantastic!!

Alroit E'ryone, (Australian accent) ¿Como están Ustedes?

Estoy muy bien aquí en Funza!

Well my new area is pretty much my favorite area so far. Parts of it remind me of San Felipe, Mexico for some reason. There's a lot more sun, about 40% sun, 60% rain these days. So that's an improvement. Not that I don't love the rain. 'Cause I always have. I love how green Colombia is. It's like a big park (or Jungle...).

This week was chevere (Cool)! So our area includes a village to the North-West side called Madrid (named after Spain's capital) and we pay 2000 pesos ($1) to get there and another 2000 pesos to return. It takes about 20 minutes in the (relatively) safer buses, and less in the sketchier buses.

Anyways so Madrid... Well the members there act like they’ve been deprived of missionaries because the old missionaries almost never visited them. We went these last 2 weeks and have gotten to know some cool members and we have received a ton of references.

One of the references is Mayerly (pronounced: Majedly). She is the wife of a less active 25 year old man. The man's family is active and we received the reference from them. Majerly is really interested in our message and wants to know if it's true. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and Bible and praying everyday. We taught her the Restoration and she still has some doubts thanks to the Internet. We invited her to watch General Conference but she was too busy. We will continue working with her and she will receive her answer.

Something funny is that everyone calls white people monos (monkeys) here, which doesn't make any sense because monkeys aren't white... Although no one means any harm, I've been called a monkey at least a million times here in Colombia!!

General Conference was Fantastic!! The talks were so inspiring! I loved how people are beginning to speak in their native languages! That's awesome because now the world won't feel like the church is only for English speakers anymore.

I don't know if you know this, but Elder Scott does his own translations by the way and he is FLUENT! His talk was one of my favorites because I actually was listening to his voice! And yes I did watch the whole conference in Spanish this time... It's a funny story. Elder Nieman (District Leader) and I were planning on watching it in the clerk's office but a series of unfortunate events caused us to give in and just watch the smorgasbord through Spanish translators. First off Bishop Sanchez (I keep thinking of Mr. Sanchez from the Incredibles) locked the keys to the Clerk's office, in the Clerk's office...

We tried the window. Even though it's barred we thought (Bishop included) we could use a broom or something to get the keys from off the computer desk. The window was locked good. As a joke I asked the Bishop how much the window cost and he made a nervous laugh. Although I was only joking he knew I was kind of serious because I really didn't listen to un-emotional Spanish translators. You KNOW you're missing out when Henry B. Eyering is bawling his eyerings out, and you just hear a monotone voice reading his talk out in Spanish. Even Ballard's monotone is better!!

So we watched the first and second Saturday sessions in Spanish and the Bishop said he would try to get another copy from some other leader the next day. Then I got a brilliant idea: Pretty much I thought if I could get up into the attic, I could lower a hook with a cord through the moveable panels on the ceiling and just fish for the keys. So i connected my keychain to an Internet cord and bent the key ring into a hook and Nieman and I climbed up the attic ladder in the Janitor’s closet. Once in the dusty attic (I can't say ''dusty attic'' without a wheezy-dusty voice) we ducked our heads and walked like hunchbacks over to the Clerk's office vents. I realized then that the whole area over the clerk's office is barred like the windows. Smart. So I moved a small panel and laid down on the bars and lowered the hook into the room. (Mission Impossible) I could easily see the keys on the computer desk and I started swinging the cord towards them. 2 minutes later I got the hook behind the keys and dragged the hook through them, pulling them up carefully whilst Nieman and I chuckled like evil geniuses.

It was so cool and I felt like robbing a bank or something! I learned that the mission can really be a mission sometimes! Jajaja (Latinos laugh with J's)

So we giggled all the way down the ladder, and even harder when Nieman banged his head rather loudly on a shelf in the janitor’s closet. We opened the clerk's office and got Conference ready but there were no computer speakers! Fortunately Nieman had brought his speaker but unfortunately his speaker broke with a pop when he plugged it into the computer! Then the conference speakers just sounded like aliens communicating. So it was broken and useless and Nieman just got kind of quiet and started mumbling about how he wouldn't be able to listen to music anymore... I just wanted to hear Apostles' voices.... So we just walked into the Sacrament room like losers and watched the conference with the Colombians.

Every talk would start in English and then the loud translation would just bury it. It was super funny when Elder Christofferson said ¡Buenas Dias! I think even the translator laughed a little and he didn't even translate that part!!! Jajaja

One of my favorite talks was by Hugo E Martinez, who spoke in Spanish. So it was the only talk to be without a translation.

He made a joke that none of you English listeners would have gotten. He said ''El que sirve, sirve.'' A play on words in the Spanish world. (meaning: He that serves, functions or is acceptable). I thought it was hilarious but I guess you just had to be there.

Anyways I love you guys, Elder Zierenberg (The sane one)