Wonderful Baptisms in Morichal!

Sweet and Sour week!

Hola Familia!

 

I'm so happy to hear from you. Everything sounds great over there. I'm really happy that you guys are doing activities and spending that time together. Well this week was like really weird it was bad but at the same time cool. I will start by explaining that when elder Rojas left he left some drama and all the people that we had ready for baptism decided to stop the lessons.Only 1 investigator got baptized. That was really hard on me and also some of my investigators aren't coming back. That was really hard because I came to love all of them so much and for them to just reject me like that was really hard for me. I know this gospel is true and they know it too and to just drop it hurts. 

 

Later in the week my new companion arrived from Honduras but was serving his mission in Peru because his visa was not ready. Now he is finishing his mission here in Colombia. It was weird because we have different forms of working. He wanted to knock on doors but we don't do that here and a whole bunch of other things that are not a part of my mission.That night I received a call from the zone leaders and they told me that we were going to split with another companionship so the next morning we went to pick my new companion up and make the change. So this week I have had like 3 companions but the new one that came is from Bogota. He's really cool and has been here one transfer more than me. His name is elder Munoz, we work really well together, like we understand each other and our lessons are really powerful. It's awesome! 

 

Saturday for the Colombia soccer game everything was crazy we had to work that day but it was impossible. Everywhere we would walk they would chase us with flour and water and I got soaked. We were running like crazy not to get hit but it was awesome to run around trying not to get wet or floured on ha-ha. The last part of the week was cool because of the new companions they actually work ha-ha. One of my investigators plays bongos and guira and cow bell and we made a little band and it was so much fun I felt alive and we were jammimg for like 3 hours on our p- day ha-ha. I have been having problems in my neighborhood everyone says that I look like James from the Colombian soccer team which I don't think so. Everywhere I go they call me James now ha-ha. It's both crazy and funny and yeah that was my week like sweet and sour. I even cried because I was so sad with all that was happening with my people but now I'm good and ready to work. 

I love you and have a good week. 

 

With love,

elder Gomez

Hello family,
My companion Elder Rojas left last night to return back to his home Peru as he completed his 2 year service. I now have a new companion from Chile and for our P-day (preparation day) we have been cleaning and getting everything ready to work. My new companion and I had a great conversation about the importance of following all the mission rules even the most insignificant ones. As missionaries this is very important because it is what we are suppose to do and it's the only way we can be successful. I am a real stickler about this because it has worked for me and I want to continue working hard and I want to achieve all the high goals elder Rojas and I had set for each other. I will be with my new companion for about 20 days. He seems pretty cool, we will see how he teaches and if we work well together. He's about to finish his mission as well. Every ward or branch has two sets of missionaries one set work in one area and the other in another area so now for these 20 days we will be working in the two areas. We will be walking like crazy ha-ha. My area is great, everyone we teach are all neighbors. We are popular in the neighborhood ha-ha. Everyone knows us and we teach everyone. It's awesome we never walk a lot because we just go to the next house to teach but now it will be different. 

This week we had 8 baptisms which was awesome and more to come. It feels really good and I love all of the people I teach so much, they are all so awesome. I never want to leave this area ha-ha. You asked if I still wear my glasses. Well, I only use them to read like when we are teaching and studying  because its just to dang hot here to be going around with glasses ha-ha.

I'm very thankful for all that my companion did because he was a hard worker and I learned a lot from him and now because of him I have very high goals that I have to complete and I won't settle for less. So I'm very grateful for that because now I know how to be a good missionary and what to expect. Elder Rojas taught me well, now I feel like I'm actually starting the mission. I like to work, so I'm super excited for these weeks to come. 

 This week we went on divisions with the zone leaders and I committed 5 people to baptism so it was cool to practice what you have learned and to put it to work. 

 
I love you guys a lot and I'm glad that you are riding bikes everynight that makes me really happy. I wish I could do it with you.That's what I miss most is my bike and my mountians ha-ha. My dad better be putting that mountian bike to use in my honor since I can't do it. You guys should start saving money so that when I get back we can all go to Colombia, go to the temple as a family and you guys can meet all my converts. That would be like a dream come true. So start saving you have two years ha-ha. 
I love you guys. Talk to you next week and don't forgrt to read together everynight and to say your prayers.

With Love,
Elder Carlos Gomez

Month 2 - Work is Moving Forward & other interesting experiences

I have been on my mission for two months and it has been an incredible journey. I love the people of Cali. We had 4 baptisms this past week which was great and more this coming week.  This is my last week with my trainer as he finishes his mission and will go home to Peru next week. So, what's happening when my companion leaves?  I will be splitting an area. What that means is that I'm going to be working in two areas at the same time. I'm going to be really busy. My new companion is going to be from Chile. On the 15th of July I will get another companion and maybe I might move areas I won't know until then. That is what is coming up for me.

You mentioned the World Cup has started well we are very well aware of that because there is not one person who does not watch the games. Every time we go to teach they are watching the games. Holy cow! Colombia goes crazy when their team plays. The streets are filled with yellow, all the stores close and no one is outside during the game and after the game everyone goes crazy. I was walking on the street when the game started and Colombia made a goal in like the first 5 minutes ha-ha and when that happened Colombia lit up. Everyone was screaming and right behind my back I started hearing gun shots. It scared me half to death but that's what they do when they score goals. It was intense and then everyone after goes in the streets and throws flour and eggs on people so we had to be really careful and watch out to make sure that they would not get us and we lucked out but the other missionaries not so much. I felt bad for them but it was crazy how much pride Colombians have for their country. I can barely imagine if they made it to the finals. I won't leave the house ha-ha.

 

Something crazy happened today, for P-Day we went to the Centro (downtown) and rode a bus called the MIO and on the way to the Centro the bus ran over a guy on a bike and I saw it with my bare eyes. It was crazy the guy did not see the bus coming and just rode into the street and the bus hit him. I think he was still alive he was kind of moving afterwards and they took him to the hospital. We had to change buses and then we got to the Centro and there we saw like 5 guys beating up one guy because he tried to steal and the police were trying to stop them but they could not and this poor guy got beat up and they were all yelling that's what he gets for stealing. Everyone was running by hitting this guy it was crazy.

 

You asked about my Spanish,  my Spanish still sucks I hate it but still pressing forward.

Oh, something really funny happened during the baptisms. We were singing a hymn and there's a member that does not know how to sing that well (like horrible) but he sings so loud and he does not go with everyone he starts every phrase like 2 seconds early and really loud. I could not help but laugh and another missionary was leading the song on the stand and he was laughing too. He was covering his face with the hymn so the people could not see and everyone was watching him and that made me laugh even more. It was so funny, we were all just cracking up and the members were looking at us like what's going on ha-ha it was too funny!

I'm glad you are going out with the missionaries. With regards to people stating that they've already been baptize and they don't need to be baptized again, we have that problem here a lot. People say they are already baptized but you have to tell them there's only one Christ, one Heavenly Father and he is a God of order which means there's only one church and one baptism like the scripture in the bible in Ephesians. There's only one faith one lord and one baptism and that we have the keys to baptism. One can be baptized 100 times but if it is not the correct baptism then it's not valid and the only way he can know is if he prays and asks. That always works with our investigators. 

This was my week and Happy Fathers Day Dad! I love you and I'll talk to you guys next week.

 

Love,

Elder Gomez 

Birthday Cakes & Speaking in tongues!

Hello Family,

I’m so happy for Karolena. She’s going to be a great 5 grader! Well this week was good. As you know, it was my birthday on June 3rd. We got nothing done because everyone wanted to celebrate my birthday. Haha. We went to 4 different houses that day. Every house had cake and food and were ready to party.  I ate so much! Imagine how much cake that is! Haha. I was so shocked. I could not believe everything these people did for me. It was the best birthday ever.

 

I was super sick this week with diarrhea. I lost like 10 pounds. I’m better now and I know I’ll gain it right away with all that we eat here. This next week is going to be great. We have 5 baptisms, 3 tomorrow and 2 more on Saturday. We are super excited. And there’s a whole bunch more to come.
 
What else… oh yeah, we were walking past a church and they were all screaming in tongues like crazy people. I was like what’s going on? They were waving their arms and talking like babies. There’s a whole bunch of churches that do weird things. Every day that passes with every church I see, it’s more evidence to me that this church is true.

Dad, you have a calling with the ward missionaries right? Take advantage of that! The members here go out with us every day all day and they love it. Call up the missionaries and see how you can help them. We always need lessons with members and it is awesome for members to be able to help bring people unto Christ. It’s the best thing we can do.

Well family, I love you a lot. I’m glad everyone is doing well and I’ll talk to you next week. 

 BTW, we had the best results in the mission this week too. Haha. BYE

Elder Gomez