This week has rocked. So much to say, and I have no idea what to write. I'll start by saying I love Neiva! We are in the southernmost area, in Manzanares 2. We live in a little apartment, no air conditioning, but we have fans. We have a washing machine but no dryer, so we have to hang up our clothes and let them dry. We live with two other elders, Prince & Amarguana. Elder Amarguana is from Quito, Ecuador and is awesome, he is super funny. He speaks pretty good English too. Elder Prince is from Mesa, Arizona and has been here in Neiva for 8 months! I wouldn't be angry if I went back to Bogota after a few months, where its a bit cooler. You're always sweating here. Even in lessons.
A lot of the houses here are really simple, and only have 1-2 lights for
the whole house. Everyone is super inviting. Everyone will give us water, juice,
or soda, usually some bread or saltines too. The coca cola here is so good. Way
better than the states. The culture here rocks, everyone is really humble and
generous. On Friday we had lunch with a less active family. On Thursday night
they didn't have food for us, they had to scrape together the little money they
had to feed us. I'm not sure I am saying this well, but they didn't have the
means to feed us the night before. It was super humbling. We are teaching a lot
of people here. A lot of our investigators just need to get married. There are
no incentives here to be legally married, so very few people are. We are
teaching a lady named Johana. She has 2 little kids and her boyfriend lives
somewhere else. She is the daughter of a recent convert. We have had 2-3 lessons
with her. She rocks. She loves reading from the Book of Mormon. She is usually
shy, but when I asked her to read another chapter in the Book of Mormon in our last lesson
her face lit up. She is progressing well. We have Daniel and Tatiana, who have
the cutest little girl. She is probably only 6 months old. So cute. They are
getting married in 2 weeks. Daniel is a member, but Tatiana isn't. The last investigator I'll talk about is Christian Montero. He has a little boy (1 year
old) with a less active member. I can't remember her name right now. He is super
cool and is progressing well too. He reminds me of my uncle Jesse. He is really
lively, rides a motorcycle and has braces. His smile totally remind me of
Jesse.
So yeah, the people here rock. I am having tons of fun. My companion is
really chill, but he helps me out a lot too. 2 days we haven't had dinner, lunch
is the big meal here, so we aren't always fed dinner. Or the day is like Friday
where I have 3 dinners. The people are too generous. The first was a little
burger on a Hawaiian roll, then an arepa filled with chicken, then a full plate
of rice, lentejas and meat. The last one was with the bishop. They had us over
for a birthday in thier family. We live right across from the bishop. He is
pretty cool. His son is a punk. At night he will come and bang on our metal door
and it freaks us out. One of the pictures is with him.
Spanish is going well. I don't understand much. The accent and the
vocabulary here is very particular. They use "chevre" to mean cool, but I never
learned that word in school. The other is "pailas" which means, suck. People tap
their neck when they say it too. One tough thing is that we have a lot of
appointments fall through because people are really lax. Kids go to school from
like 7-12, and people work the same hours. Dads just chill at home in the
afternoon. its weird.
Funny culture item: breast feeding isn't really hidden here. Twice in
lessons moms have started breast feeding RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. Not awkward or
anything. Then a lady just started breast feeding in Sunday school too. So
weird.
Today for P Day we took a cab up to the center of Neiva to go to the mall.
We went to this rad juice place called Alaska. Its like 1 buck for juice, its
super good. Then we walked around all the little shops. I found a soccer jersey.
Its a white national jersey, long sleeved. It was 15,000 pesos. Which is $7.50,
so ill probably get more. Other than that its been a normal p day.
I love the little kids here. There are a ton. Playing with them is super
fun, it reminds me of Jason, Ryan, Gwen and Cannon. They are all really
friendly. Its still hot, probably going to get hotter. Last night at 8:30 pm we
ran into a less active member who told us she had a friend that needed a
blessing. We were planning on doing it tonight, but then she called us 15
minutes later so we ran down there and gave a blessing. The lady had been to
church before and she was really nice. Her and two teenagers were here, so we
might get to start teaching them. It was a really neat experience.
We are going to the town of Ibague tomorrow for Elder Grove, a 70 who is coming. So that
should be fun. I get to see Elder Bittner again (my mtc companion).
I love being a missionary so much. I love sharing my testimony of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Im starting to watch the gospel bless peoples lives, and
it is so amazing. I know reading the Book of Mormon is the best way to grow
closer to God. Im so grateful to be here in Colombia. Thanks for reading.
Elder Beck
Pictures:our house, my desk, the guys in the apartment, me and Elder Macias, the
bishop's son and me, the plaza where we live, our room. I sleep up on the bunk.
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