Dearest friends and family,
I’m going to use this week’s letter to catch you up on my
Colombian adventure from ~10 days ago because I ran out of time and wasn’t able
to tell you all about it last week.
Our adventure started off on Thursday night (March 9), when
four new elders arrived into Tulcan, coming from all different parts of the
mission. They, combined with Elder Morales and Elder Arrieta who were already
here in Tulcan would be the first six elders to serve in the new Colombian
sectors of the Ecuador Quito North mission. Even though they were moving over,
we all were required to go into Columbia to declare ourselves as missionaries
and that’s exactly what we did. We woke up early Friday morning to have allow enough
time for all 8 of us to shower and then left the house to go meet up with Pres.
Murphy. Arriving in front of his hotel, we were greeted friendlily by him and a
few other important church members including the woman in charge of church
visas for Ecuador, the man in charge of Church travel in Columbia, and a very
friendly driver. We all loaded into the vehicles and headed north.
My first impression of Colombia came at the border crossing
which happens to be a bridge with a really cool name, La Puente Rumichaka. I love
that the one legal border crossing in this region is a bridge. We got in line
early in the day so there weren’t many people, got our passports stamped by the
immigration officials, and continued on our way in the country. Our destination
was a city called Pasto which isn’t terribly far from Tulcan geographically but,
thanks to the windy Andean roads, sits almost 3 hours north of the border by
car. Columbia is a beautiful country. Naturally, I’m a little biased in favor of
Ecuador for obvious reasons, but Colombia is a gorgeous country.
Zooming along the mountainous countryside in a van filled
with awesome elders is an event I will never forget. Every few kilometers we
passed fruit stands with fruits I promise not even Trader Joe’s has. Every few
fruit stands brought Army guys with big machine guns protecting the highways
and people from the guerrillas. And every few groups of Army dudes brought scenic
waterfalls and viewpoints of lush landscape in this amazing country. I didn’t
take many photos but it was seriously impressive drive. We arrived safely in Pasto
at about 10 in the morning and started the Visa registration process.
Everything went very smoothly, including the office’s 2-hour lunch break which
gave us just enough time to find a Colombian lunch. I did manage to get a picture
of my bandeja paisa and it’s a photo that I’m incredibly proud of. We finished
up in the office at around 3:30 and began the long trek back to the border
area. This time I had the privilege of riding with Pres. Murphy in his car along
with Elders Morales and Castagno. Pres. Murphy is a truly caring and genuine
man whom I respect deeply. He always finds a way to make sure that we
missionaries feel of his love and concern on a very personal level. This day he
showed his love through a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made with real
Skippy peanut butter. Oh it was delightful! He took us on a little tour of Ipiales
and we got to see both of the chapels and a few members before making our way
back across the border into Ecuador around 7:30. It was a wonderful day and a
huge blessing to be with him and to see a new part of the world.
This week life returned back to normal with just 4 of us
missionaries in Tulcan again. On Saturday I learned my companion, Elder
Miranda, will be going across the border and serving in Branch 1 in Ipiales. My
new companion is Elder Quispe and I look forward to meeting and beginning to
work with him this week! I was nearly
bitten by a dog today. In other words, it was essentially biting my leg in my
thigh region but I thought fast and hit it in the face with my scriptures. I’m
stoked because now I can truthfully tell people that the word of God actually saved
my life! (Anyone who knows me knows I love lame jokes.) Let me end this week’s letter
with something more inspirational - something that one of Tulcan’s graffiti-poetry
artists painted on a wall we walk by each day which reads: “Aunque me fuercen,
nunca voy a decir que el pasado fue major…manana es mejor.” Even if I’m forced,
I will never say that the past was better…tomorrow is always better.) How true. I love you all. Have a great week!
- EE
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