¡Que hace el pez todos los dias? Nada!

Querido Familia:

Whew, this week has been draining, but very cool as well! Every night I get into my bed and fall asleep within probably 45 seconds. And we don't get P-Day this week either, so it's been pretty draining. We don't have P-Day cuz we had a conference for the entire mission on Wednesday instead, which was really cool! I got to see 4 of my friends from the MTC who came to Bogota at the same time as me, and I got to see my previous companion Elder Velasquez, and I got to make a lot of new friends with Latino missionaries. It's so amazing that I am actually able to be good friends with people who don't speak my native language. I love being able to speak Spanish and connect with these amazing people and the amazing Latin culture. So I guess it's all good that we don't have P-Day this week... I guess.... haha. So the conference lasted 2 days, and we had to travel quite a distance each day to get to the conference. Originally the conference was scheduled because Elder Richard G. Scott was gonna come visit the mission. I was so excited to see an apostle! But for some unknown reason, Elder Scott had to cancel and instead Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, of the Presidency of the Seventy, came to talk to us. Poor Elder Gonzalez, I'm sure he knew that we all would've preferred to see Elder Scott. Some people during the talk starting ''booing'' too. Haha nah just kidding! Elder Gonzalez was really cool and gave a lot of helpful advice to us, and I believe he gave a talk in this past General Conference, but I'm not sure. I don't know, all these latinos look the same... hahaha jk! But in cereal, one thing he talked about was the power in teaching about the Savior with the people that we teach. Everybody is born with the light of Christ in them, which helps them recognize the good from the evil. Because everyone has the light of Christ, when we talk about Christ, people naturally feel the Spirit and grow to recognize that Jesus Christ is the source of all that is good. Jesus really is the source of all that is good in my life. President Hinckley said, ''Jesus Christ is my best friend.'' Jesus Christ is my best friend too:) I hope that I can continue to develop my relationship with him. Elder Gonzalez also invited us to focus more of our attention in teaching the less actives. Why? Because President Monson gave a talk about rescuing the members who have fallen from the path and stopped being active in the Church. Everyone needs the gospel in their lives, and the gospel is intended for all of God's children. Elder Gonzalez invited us to teach the people who are inactive in the Church and told us that whenever we obey the prophet of God, blessings come. If we focus more on the inactives, we will find more people to teach and bless, and we will be blessed with more happiness. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, that he receives divine revelation, and is called to lead the Church of Jesus Christ, under the direction of none other than Jesus Christ. Freak, well, I don't have any more time to write today:( I might be able to come back and finish the rest of my hour another day. Take care my wonderful family!

I love you all!

Elder Bogdan

P.S.- I don't talk about all these spiritual things so that yall can forget them. Remember them and apply them in your lives! Talk with your friends about Jesus Christ, and remember those whose faith in God has grown weak. Through the teachings of Jesus Christ everyone can have everlasting happiness and peace. It is the one remedy for everyone and the one cure for everything. Trust me. And trust in Heavenly Father! ¡Ciao!

4 month anniversary!

Mi Familia Hermosa:

Well, this week with my new companion has been awesome! We work very well together, and seriously, we are the best of friends. His personality is one of the friendliest I've ever known, and he reminds me of Nathan Morris cuz he's really goofy but super cool and friendly. He's also very spiritual, and I have learned a lot from him in only one week. And it's nuts how the Lord has been blessing our companionship with revelation and the aid of his Spirit. We were talking about our investigators the other day and making plans for them in order to teach them what will be of the most benefit. We started thinking long and hard about what to teach, and then at the same time we both said, ''The Plan of Salvation''. The same thing happened over and over and OVER again. The Lord was guiding us in unity as a companionship. And when it came to one family, we couldn't figure out what to teach them. Then I said, ''We should pray to find out'', and my companion said, ''I was thinking the exact same thing!'' It's amazing how when we are actually striving hard to receive revelation and listening intently, the Lord will guide his servants. And it wasn't that we heard a voice from the heavens or received a sign, but the Lord spoke to our hearts and minds. We meditated about our investigators, and then the same thought popped into both of our heads, and our feelings confirmed that those thoughts were of God, because we felt very good and very calm and very sure of the decisions. A lot of times I have felt those same impressions and those same feelings, and I doubted if they were from God or simply my own thoughts and feelings. But in this instance, I had a companion to confirm to me that those thoughts and feelings were from God. But here's the thing I learned: Don't doubt those feelings and thoughts. It is not necessary to have a companion to confirm those impressions of the Spirit. The impressions that I received in this instance were no different from previous impressions I have received from the Spirit throughout my life, even long before the mission. The only difference was that this time another person was there with me to share the experience. Yesterday I went to the temple and prayed, and I testify to you all once again that God DOES hear and answer prayers, through the Holy Ghost, which speaks to our hearts and minds, like I just described. Do not doubt spiritual impressions. I don't have my English scriptures with me, so I'm going to try to translate this scripture for you guys... '' Wherefore, all that is good comes from God.... Furthermore, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually. Wherefore, all that inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God and serve Him, is inspired of God.'' (Moroni 7:12-13)

This week we have seen the Lord's hand a lot. Like I said in my last letter, a lady randomly called out to us in the street and invited us to her house. Her name is Sujey Barrios and she isn't a member of the church and neither is her husband, Jose, but their three kids are. We have sufficiently grown to become friends with the family Barrios and are teaching them more about the gospel. The father wants to teach me how to ride a motorcycle and he also paints pictures very well and said he'd show me some techniques, haha. For them the family is very important, and the with the gospel a priority in their lives, their family can be UNSTOPPABLE, haha. We also started talking to a teenage kid, Jerson, in the street and he immediately invited us into his home to talk to him and his older sisters. His sisters have a lot more interest in the gospel, and one of them, Karen, came to church this past Sunday. They are very good, kind people, and the family is also very important to them. Karen is very young (20 something years old) but is already a widow. I know that teaching the Plan of Salvation to her can definitely help her out a lot and give her hope for her husband who passed away. Also, we are teaching a mother, Claudia, and her daughter Paola. Claudia has already come to church and has a lot of interest. We are also going to visit a 14yr-old kid named Miguel today who has a lot of interest and has already come to church. We are going to meet his parents who think very highly of the church as well. So we have a lot of people to teach who have been prepared by our loving Heavenly Father to receive the message of the Gospel! Like I said, the Lord's hand has been very present in this past week.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! BE GOOD!

Con cariño,

Elder Usted (that's what one sister calls me cuz she can't pronounce my name very well)

¡Nuevo compañero!

Querida familia

It was so great to talk to you guys on Skype! Truthfully, I felt a little ''trunky''' afterwards. My family is so great! It was really fun to see all your faces and joke and talk as if I wasn't even in another country. Thank goodness for technology! The funniest thing that happened by far was definitely when Raquel and Ben pantsed Tyler, haha such bad parents! It was sad that Jonathan couldn't talk because he doesn't feel very good. He should've just stayed on the phone. I hope everything goes well with your surgery Jonathan! I'm praying for you, big bro!

Welp, the big news since Sunday is that I got a new companion yesterday! There were emergency transfers and Elder Velasquez had to move to an area 13 hrs away. Elder Velasquez is a stud, and I learned a lot from him, but I also felt that he was starting to get bored of this area and not as pumped as he was at the start, and therefore my ability to grow was also affected. So although I'm gonna miss Elder Velasquez, I know it was for the better. My new companion's name is Elder Cardona, and he's from La Paz, Bolivia! Man oh man, he is way cool! We're already good friends, and I'm super excited for this transfer. Already I have grown in the one day that we've been together. Since he's the new one and I'm the one in the companionship who's familiar with the area, I felt like I had a lot more responsibility given to me yesterday. I was a little worried for that reason, but Heavenly Father has definitely helped me. The first thing we were going to do yesterday was knock doors and try to find new people who are interested. As I was leading Elder Cardona to the neighborhood where we should begin, I felt the impression that we should walk towards the house of a man that we had met a couple days ago and see if we could visit with him. So as we were walking to his house, a woman called out, ''Elders!'' and approached us and told us to come to her house because she wanted to visit with us. FREAK, right?! That NEVER happens! At least not here in the city. She's not a member, but her three children are. They got baptized a little over a year ago and stopped going to church about 6 months ago. She wanted us to talk to her kids and get them to go back to church. She said she has seen a great change in her children since they met the missionaries, and that her relationship with her daughters got much better. But when they stopped going to church, things went back to normal. She said she knows that this church is the path for her kids, and maybe for her too, but she still has a lot of questions that she's waiting for Heavenly Father to answer. Her husband isn't a member of the church either, but they both think very highly of the church. Perhaps it wasn't there time in the past, but perhaps it's their time now. We'll see! Welp, that's the ''sitch'', as Kim Possible puts it. I love you family! And if any of my friends are reading this, know that I haven't forgotten ya'll, I just don't have much time to write back just yet. Be patient with me, and know that I think about ya'll and laugh when I remember the funny things we'd do. Family and friends, I pray for ALL of you, and I trust God enough to know that He will bless you according to my faith and yours.

Love,

Elder Jhordan (that's what a the 4yr-old Henry calls me because he doesn't know how to pronounce ''Bogdan'' haha)

Bogota Temple is LEGIT

Querido Familia,

I don't have much time cuz there's always some problem with the computer, but this week has been great! Saturday we had our first baptism! It was for a 10yr old kid named Michael that we've been teaching. Most all of his family is members, and he already was going to church most sundays, so we didn't have to work too much, but it was still a great baptism! His older brother baptized him and his brother-in-law confirmed him. One of our investigators, Lucely Ramirez, came to the baptism and liked it a lot. We thought it would help her to come to the baptism because she still has some doubts and wants to wait months to be baptized. She has a great testimony of the Book of Mormon. So after the baptism, we asked her if she felt good about being baptized at the end of this month, like we had planned with her, but she STILL wants to wait longer, even after saying how wonderful the baptism was! I don't get it! haha but we're going to keep praying for her and helping her and resolving any doubts or questions she has. We've also begun to establish a really great relationship with her husband! He didn't even want to talk with us at first, but now every time we visit Lucely, he's always there to answer the door and talk to us! And yesterday we had our first lesson with him and Lucely together! They also have two daughters in their 20`s who we're trying to befriend. We even gave one of their daughters a blessing of healing. They are a wonderful family and I hope that one day they can be sealed in the temple for eternity:)

Speaking of which, today I went inside the Bogota Temple for the first time! It was interesting listening to everything in Spanish, and the celestial room was the most beautiful of all the temples I've been in! Also, on Monday, our zone of 12 missionaries went to a member's house in my ward for a service project! Her house is in the middle of a big field and forest, with a lake behind it too! That was really fun! And after doing a whole bunch of yard work, she taught us how to make homemade spaghetti! And by homemade, I mean we made the noodles from scratch and everything! And afterwards we picked some plants from her yard called rubarbs(?) and she made a dessert with it that tasted like cherry pie filling. It was really fun!

After I finish this letter, my comp. and I are gonna go visit another one of our investigators, Norma and her sons Juan Felipe and Henry. They are an amazing family! Norma says she knows without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true, Juan Felipe, who's 10, reads every chapter in the scriptures that we give him (sometimes he reads the same chapter several times), and Henry (4yrs old) is really disobedient, but he's really funny. They are excited to get baptized at the end of this month!

Welp, that's my week! Hope ya'lls was just as exciting!

Elder Bogdan

¡I got robbed!

Haha, the subject of this email is a lie. I didn´t get robbed, I just thought it'd grab the attention of my faithful readers and fans:)

Dear Family,

I started feeling trunky this week for some reason, I don't remember why. It was pretty insignificant, nothing that I can't handle, but pray for me anyways,ok? By the way, ''trunky'' means homesick. It's just that I miss all you guys a lot! Families are amazing, and we teach about the importance of families everyday and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bless families. Maybe that's why I started to miss ya´ll. But the work is moving forward! I'm excited for this Saturday because we're having our first baptism! It's for a 10-yr old named Michael, and he's cool and he likes us a lot. I can vaguely remember the two missionaries who taught me before I was baptized, and I remember thinking they were awesome. I can kind of remember their names too - Elder Butler and Elder Vesterfelt, I think. It's pretty cool to think that Michael also thinks we're the bomb and he's gonna remember our names maybe.

Remember last week how I said we were knocking doors and we found a golden investigator? Her name's Norma and she has a son who's 10 (Juan Felipe) who's a STUD and son who's 4 (Henry) who super funny! They've agreed to get baptized April 30th, the same day as another one of our investigators, Lucely. So we'll have 3 baptisms that day! Norma has a lot of questions, and they enjoyed coming to Church this Sunday! We had a Family Home Evening with them and a member family, and it was really good. We also watched The Testaments with our investigators on Sunday too! They all liked it a lot!

Lucely is amazing and she loves the Gospel so much! She wants us to help her out in teaching her family. Her husband and her two adult-aged daughters would barely talk to us or look at us at first, but now her husband loves to talk to us and have us around! And her two daughters have some sort of sickness and they agreed to let us give them a blessing of healing. We've been giving a LOT of blessings of healing actually! It's sweet! Well, that's pretty much what went down this week!

I hope you guys enjoy all the pictures! I don´t have anymore time, but thanks for writing! It makes me really happy to read your letters! Oh, and ya'll should send me pictures too!

Love,
Elder Bogdan

Holar!

Querido Familia

 

This week was pretty sweet! I can hardly even remember much of it now. But first, I wanna say happy late 50th birthday to mom! I was in a hurry last week while I was writing and I think I forgot to tell you that, mamasita! And on your birthday, I decided that I'd write 50 things that make you unique and that I love about you... But I decided 15 was enough, haha...

 

1. Mom is the sweetest woman on the planet, and we always want to treat her right. It's always so sad to see her cry, and when she does, you can't help but love her and want to hug her.

2. Mom wakes up early everyday and makes us lunch and breakfast, all before Seminary!

3. Mom loves to play basketball, and I love how she screams so much while playing that she starts to lose her voice.

4. Mom would always take us to pet stores because she knew we loved animals, but she'd never buy us any pets, but we convinced her with Todd and Copper!

5. Everytime I would pick up mom from work or the bus stop, I would notice how cute she looked in her scrubs, ahah

6. ''Eh-bah-quay-shun'' (evacuation)

7. Mom can talk on the phone for HOURS, and it gets pretty annoying sometimes, but I admire her endurance!

8. Mom loves to stay at church and talk till there's no one left to talk to!

9. There's one face that mom makes that I can never forget. It's when she squints her eyes, raises her hand, and says ''Pegalo''

10. One of mom's unique punishments was pulling our sideburns. OUCH! I can still feel it.

11. Mom loves  her ''oakmilk''!

12. Mom loves Reisen's

13. Mom loves ice cream - a little too much!

14. Mom taught us to love parks, zoos, Miller Outdoor Theater, swimming, and just the outdoors in general! More importantly, she taught us to love God, Jesus Christ, the scriptures, and the words of modern-day prophets (as she would always listen to them in the car). So I guess it's ok that she didn't teach us Spanish.

15. Everytime I read in the Book of Mormon about the mothers of the Sons of Helaman, I always think of you, Mamasita! Thanks for being such a strong warrior woman! I love you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

So Conference was pretty interesting for me. I listened to all of it in Spanish except for one session. Man, that was hard. Not only to understand, but I've also realized that whenever somebody talks in Spanish a whole bunch and I can't understand the majority of it, I get really sleepy. All of the Spanish sessions were really hard to stay awake through, but during the English session, I didn't even get slightly tired. Haha, during some of the Spanish sessions, I would take a sip outta my water bottle whenever I got tired and just leave the water sitting in my mouth for a while, and maybe swish it around. I did help pretty nicely to keep me awake. I also started writing the 15 things I like about mom during one of the sessions to help me stay awake. What's even worse is that sometimes I get extremely sleepy during lessons with investigators! If the person likes to talk a lot and I don't get the opportunity to talk very much and get the blood flowing, it's REALLY hard. But missionary work is still awesome! The language is getting better. We have two baptisms we're planning on. One with Michael, a 10yr old, and another with Lucely Ramirez, who is just an AMAZING investigator! She has definitely been prepared by the Lord! At first she wanted to get baptized in 6 months because she felt like she had to know everything about the Gospel, but we've been slowly explaining to her that she just needs to know the basics, have faith, and have a desire to keep the commandments and be baptized, and that's enough! So she agreed to prepare to be baptized april 30th. Oh, and I don't really hate contacting anymore! One day we were contacting and we found a golden family! They love us and they want us to visit them and teach them every day of the week! Well, I know that God is real. I know that if we have faith in him, miracles are possible, and I've seen God's hand in my life and in my mission! I love all of you!

 

Con Amor,

Elder Bogdan

First week in Colombia ¡Que chevere!

Querido familia,

Colombia es bacano! Estoy aprendiendo mucho, y mi compañero es un poder. Sin embargo, a veces me pongo frustrado porque mi Español no es todo lo que quiero que sea. Pero el Padre Celestial nunca me deja y El me esta ayudando demasiado.

Ok I don't have much time, so I'm gonna switch to English now haha. This week has been extremely interesting! I'll start off with the bad stuff so we can end on a positive note, ¿cool? We have gotten lost quite a bit because neither of us know the area. Elder Velasquez is starting to catch on though, whereas I'm usually still in the dark as to where our next appointment is. But that's because I'm learning so much other stuff that is more important, so it's hard for my brain to have room to learn where everyone lives! Our first or second day, we were supposed to meet one of the church members at our chapel, and we didn't even know where that was, and we ended up leaving our area on accident and waiting for the church member at a different church building. And yesterday we decided we'd scout out our area on a bus, and the bus randomly changed it's route or something and we were on the bus for like an hour and a half before we finally got dropped off remotely near our apartment. The Spanish is coming, but honestly, it's REALLY hard. I can hardly understand anything! Thank goodness my companion is Peruvian and naturally speaks the clearest, most perfectly untainted Spanish! Or maybe it's just cuz I'm used to hearing mom's Peruvian Spanish. Man, it feels like I've been here for at least 3 weeks, RIDONCULOUS. Also, I've already gotten a little sick. Nothing much, just a case of the runs. Haha just kidding (but in all seriousness... not really). Also, I got a sunburn on my neck, arms, and face yesterday! ¡Que vaina! Every single day I haven't even gotten CLOSE to getting a sunburn, and yesterday for P-Day we played futbol and I got one. I think it's because every day I wear a suit jacket that covers my neck and arms, whereas yesterday I was wearing a t-shirt. I guess I'll just have to play soccer in my suit from now on...

Alrighty, time for the good stuff! Every day we pass by lots and lots of graffiti. It's awesome! I've always admired the artistic abilities of some graffiti-ists. My personal favorite is the one that says, ''USA NOS USA'', which means ''USA USES US''. I'm positive the first time I get robbed will be right next to that graffiti. We have been getting to know the members here very well and they are all so powerful and strong! I haven't met anyone in the ward who isn't a convert to the Church (besides small children), but they are all such friendly and righteous people! They are all extremely willing to help too! Right now we have two people who are pretty much gonna be baptized. Lucely is an older woman who showed up at church randomly a little before I got to Colombia. She has been extremely prepared for the Gospel. She understands everything, she believes pretty much everything, and she said herself that she wants to be baptized! We also have a baptismal date with a 10 yr old named Michael. And just about an hour ago we were knocking on doors and we found a woman named Norma who's extremely ready for the gospel as well. The Spirit of God has been a wonderful aid this past week. Well, I have to go! I feel bad because I talked more about the bad things, but trust me, there's a lot of good things. I love you all! Pray for me! 

Love,

Elder Bogdan