Week 44 - La Collectiva

Dearest friends and family,

I’m going to tell you all about something really special this week…la collectiva. We all know what a taxi is, right? Little yellow car where you get in, go to the desired place, and then pay? It doesn’t matter if it’s a 5-year old kid alone or a family of 4, the price is the same based on the total distance traveled? Well, la collectiva is a little different. In la collectiva, it’s not a little yellow car but rather a little white bus of about 10 seats. The passengers don’t tell the driver of the collectiva where they want to go or make route change requests because the collectiva goes to a predesignated location of high interest and anyone that wants to go there, climbs in. The hitch? The collectiva doesn’t leave until all of the seats are filled.

So why would someone want this service? Well, it’s infinitely cheaper and very handy when you are broke. A taxi from our house to Rumichaka (Ecuadorian border) costs about 10,000 pesos ($3.40). The collectiva from the terminal which is about a 10-minute walk from our house to Rumichaka costs 1,800 pesos ($0.60) per person. So, like I said: cheaper. What I haven’t yet mentioned is the most marvelous part of the collectiva – how destiny decides who will climb aboard to fill the other 8 seats of the little bus.

Today we boarded up again, handing our 1,800 over to the not-very-friendly driver and started to wait. We were the first 3 to arrive (Elder Welch, Bermejo and me) going to pick up Elder Soto who is coming back to the area. Of the 7 remaining seats, 1 was taken by a very dirty, weary-looking, bearded traveler almost immediately. We were now 4. I was surprised when this man greeted me in broken English and introduced himself as Osvaldo from France. All of a sudden a million questions came to mind as I flustered a bit in my intrigue. Why was he traveling in Colombia? What was he going to do in Ecuador? Why did he speak English? What had he seen and what stories could he tell? Did he have a family? Friends? When was the last time he had been “home”? When was the last time he had a shower? I went with the first question that came to my mind: how do you know English? This simple question blossomed into a 10-minute conversation that eventually touched on all of my other questions. Osvaldo had lived in England for 5-years after realizing at a very young age that the life he had been born into in Paris would not sustain him. So he struck out on his own and has been traveling ever since. He’s learned 6-7 languages and expressed deep respect and admiration for our work as missionaries and the devotion we have to our faith. Osvaldo had lived briefly as a monk years earlier before deciding to travel and pursue “universal understanding.” I could fill the rest of this letter with the impressions from my discussion with him – perhaps I will at a later time.

Next to board was a family of 5, an older male, 2 younger parents, a child of about 6 and a crying baby. Again a million questions flooded my mind. They spoke in a Bogota accent and were carrying a TON of luggage like they were on more than just on vacation. I wondered about their troubles and their concerns. A moment more and, in the distance, we see 2 Venezuelans, a mother and her son, running to the bus – the mother pausing to buy a water, angering and prompting a racial slur from the older man from Bogota. In a gesture of acceptance, the younger woman from Bogota picked up her crying baby to make room on the seat for the Venezuelan mom. The driver started the engine. We were off.

Maybe it helped that we arrived first and I was able to watch this scene slowly unfold but the whole experience really took me back. I got to thinking how incredibly different and diverse the backgrounds, experiences, concerns, pursuits and frames of mind of each of the 11 of us on this little bus. What was each person thinking as we made our way to the Ecuadorian border? What things worried them? What hopes did they have? What would they consider to be their greatest need? And what would they think if they could experience first-hand how we live in the United States? What would their opinion of that experience be? And, what would they want me to be more thankful for as a result of it? I could share the answers I imagined they would give but feel it would be better to just leave them there as questions for you – as something for you to answer for yourself.

Truth is, la collectiva is just a tiny microscopic slide taken from the gigantic image that is the world we live in. It’s incredible that we humans can live so completely, distinctly different lives on this same, one planet and that the quality of life can vary so drastically. It’s more than just interesting – I believe it’s critical that each one of us appreciates and recognizes this. I am so incredibly grateful and GLAD that I am here, that I get to recognize and live this realization and that I am in a position to hopefully help brighten and make any one of these lives just a little bit better.

Have an amazing week my loved ones. Stay positive. Stay smiling. And always, always look forward in faith. I love you all.

- EE

Week 43 - Spanish is Cool

Dearest friends and family,

What a week it has been. I’ve passed back and forth between houses and companions due to what I believe are immigration-related delays in the arrival of my new companion. I ended up spending the week in a trio with Elders Welch and Bermejo, two really amazing missionaries. We worked really hard, had some fun along the way, and accomplished a lot this week (including a baptism for 9).

Being with both a latino and a gringo has had me thinking a lot about my Spanish and the influence that learning a second language has already had on my life. It really has changed my way of thinking and opened my eyes to new pathways and thought processes I didn’t know existed. For example, have you ever noticed how we barely ever listen? I mean we listen but we don’t do it very closely or actively. Heck, I bet right now, as you read this, your brain is probably working at like 10% - it’s receiving my words but it’s probably not interacting with them. I suspect doing this helps us see the big picture but it also misses out on the small, important and sometimes significant details. So if big picture is important, why don’t we just talk in a big picture kind of way all the time? Why do we include seemingly minute details in stories? I think it because the little details help mold the concepts we want to convey. I’m off course but what I’m trying to say is that Spanish forces me to listen more closely because if I listen in the “forming a big picture” way I quickly get confused. Learning a new language requires active listening. And active listening is also critical in our work as missionaries in that we are trying to teach, help and console the people we meet here. It’s really not hard to do, you just have to put in a little more effort and thought into every conversation.

I’m also realizing we barely scratch the surface in terms of fully using our language. English must have a million words and yet we mostly use the same little pool of select words and phrases: so that, we/you are/I am going to, can you, are you ok, etc. Learning and thinking in Spanish had helped me realize that there are a variety of ways to say the same thing. In Spanish the interaction between nouns and adjectives is a lot more personal because of word ordering and emphasis and I think it’s helped me become more descriptive when speaking in English. There’s also an interesting connection between possession and guilt in Spanish – it’s all really interesting to me and affecting how I think.

Elder Welch is a sincere friend of mine. We have similar personalities which helps us make good out of just about any circumstance. It’s funny because we’re two very American gringos living as latinos, talking Spanish to one another, both of us stuck between English and Spanish in our brains. Sometimes Spanish flies out when speaking English and sometimes English flies out when speaking Spanish. I’m reaching the point where my English and Spanish are equally balanced. Soon I expect it’ll be Spanish leaning. And when that happens I don’t know what I’ll do: order burritos from Sombrero’s in a new native tongue?

Spanish really is a remarkable language. Although learning a new language has been different than I imagined, I’ve been satisfied lately that all of my study and practice has come into full effect. My mind truthfully has opened to a whole new world. And it is awesome. We’ll be talking soon friends. Perhaps in Spanish? I love you and appreciate your support from so many miles away.

Con carino,

Elder Ericksen

Other tidbits:

• Adam had difficulties with the cyber café this week and was only able to get a photo of his general letter and a single picture of a wedding labeled Potosi (Colombia) this week. We believe the wedding picture is of the daughter of the Lopez family from Tulcan which must have been an incredible joy for Adam to witness. He loves that family dearly.
• We had a huge baptism in the district of 9 this past weekend, including the family Goyes (Elder Welch) and Brian (mine). I got to visit a lot to the families of Elder Welch and they are amazing. One of the little girls even asked me to baptize her, but I had to loan my clothes to someone and couldn’t do it. I did get to help with the confirmations. Brian was baptized by his cousin which was really sweet. One of the little kids dove into the font after his baptism…it was a little crazy for a moment. 
• Nathan, I found a really funny name of a city for you: "Empoobando". (Nathan loves that Adam’s area covers a region known as “Poopiales”).
• Nick that is so awesome about your braces!!! You look great, dude. I bet your teeth felt slimy after.
• I miss you all. I’m working really hard and were having lots of success, which has been awesome.
• Something that made me laugh... in Spanish there really isn’t a word to describe "wild" like "wildflowers.” The closest translation is salvaje which means savage hahaha. I had to laugh because in the grocery store there is some imported frutos salvajes tea meaning savage fruit. I imagine before the translation it was wild fruit tea but now it just sounds dangerous.
• People are very, very friendly here and flirt. Yesterday someone stopped me and said "Que lindo eres tu. Vives aquí?" She kept asking me like four times if I lived in Ipiales. I think she wanted me to invite her somewhere hahaha – Elder Welch won’t stop laughing and teasing me about it.
• We played soccer today in the big cancha with a lot of members. The next three Mondays are national holidays. Oh ya, Happy Fathers Day, dad…I love you.

Week 42 - 10 Things You Don't Know About Ipiales

Dearest friends and family,

Hello loved people in my life that happen to be thousands of miles away at the moment. I hope you are well and enjoying this life we have been given. Elder Soto and I are doing very well and are happy to be finishing up a great week.

This week I wanted to do something a little different so I’ve structured this letter around “10 Things You Don’t Know About Ipiales.” Here goes.

1. LDS - so let’s start off with a good one. One of the street gangs here in Ipiales is named “Los Del Sur” basically calling out that these are the hard guys of South Colombia here in our border town. What makes it awesome is that LDS is a short nickname for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – the Church website for example is lds.org (check it out). Anyway, the graffiti here in Ipiales is very creative and well done compared to the graffiti back home and I always laugh when I see “LDS” – a some profane phrase signed LDS, Die LDS, We’re the Best LDS or You’re Either With or Against LDS – tagged all over the city. My people have been really busy with the paint here.
2. We’re on strike. The school teachers here are currently on strike protesting for better wages and the kids have been out of school for the last 3 weeks. Last week the teachers marched in the streets with candles in the dark. Every time we hear the strike is supposed to end, the date gets moved back. The latest we’ve heard is that classes will start again on June 24^th.
3. Vecies – The word vecie is short for vecino (neighbor) and is a commonly used word referring to anyone you don’t know but want to be friendly with. The owners of the store closest to our house love to say it to us and it always makes me laugh. At least we kind of are neighbors but the word is heard all around the city. In front of our vecies store the road narrows and when cars are parked there, a traffic jam / pride battle ensues between 2 cars try to pass at the same time typically in opposite directions. Sometimes the police have to come and help resolve it.
4. La Libreta – in Colombia military service is obligatory. All males have to serve unless they can pay for, or find some other way to get ahold of, a little card exempting them from service called a libreta. Most everyone seems to find a way to get the card.
5. Rotten shoes – in my Mother’s Day call home I made a comment about how the daily rain, cold temps and damp house we live in contributed to my shoes rotting. I didn’t mean to startle anyone but I got a lot of advice about how to cure it. Thanks very much to all who sent me helpful suggestions. We don’t have natural sunlight in our apartment but I’ve started removing the insole and sticking newspaper in them every night this week and while they still smell rotten they have improved a ton!
6. “Oh ya – esa vaina pasa corriente” – we have an electric stove in our house because buying gas in the border city is a problem. This particular electric stove passes electricity through to our metal pans. It only took one accidental touch for me to learn my lesson, prompting Elder Soto to firmly teach me that the word “vaina” is a Colombian word that means “thing” with a negative connotation…basically “watch out, that piece of junk passes current.” It made for a great laugh.
7. Dos copas – in our house we only have 2 cups. They’re orange. We’re too lazy to buy more and truthfully don’t need any more. It’s been a great lesson for me about washing dishes. If you want a drink: wash!
8. Street jerseys – Whenever the Colombian National soccer team plays, lots of men come out to sell Colombian soccer jerseys in the streets. The same is true in Ecuador but there are many more sellers here in Colombia. Well, today Colombia played Spain (I’m not sure why it must be a tournament or something) but all of the vendors were out with their knock offs. We ended up buying some for 25,000 pesos each which is cheap ($9) and it’s real fun because almost everyone in the city is wearing one.
9. Electricity – is more expensive in Colombia than Ecuador. This is one of the reasons we wash our clothes by hand – it costs too much to run a washing machine. Sometimes the government plans brown-outs and shuts power off for a day and it’s a little rougher when that happens. We do have an electric shower that more or less heats water. It’s real cold in the mornings so I’ve been showering at night. I lost my flip flops in the burglary a while back and am currently using a too small pair from the last missionary who was here who went home. I can’t find my shoe size anywhere in the city.
10. Colombian Prep day – being so far away from the rest of the mission keeps us 12 Ipiales missionaries pretty close together, especially on p-day. Last week we enjoyed a picnic in a nearby “forest” that included a game of Monopoly using some now-worthless Venezuelan money. I really enjoy getting together with my companions even if we just sit at the church or spend the day playing soccer. We have grown close in the last many weeks and I’m not looking forward to upcoming transfers. I love my companion – Elder Soto and I have a finely tuned companionship, a great vibe and are keeping each other safe. The other night some dudes knocked on our door asking for blankets, deodorant and razors with some story they were passing through and didn’t have money for bus tickets. We both felt really odd about the situation and did not open the door. We sent them away noticing one of them appeared to be wearing a helmet, suggesting they weren’t in need of a bus anyway.

I’m happy, healthy and positive. I miss and love you all. Talk soon.

Week 41 - Taking the Next Step

Dearest friends and family,

I think the reason we sometimes don’t push ourselves to take an important “next step” is because we are already subconsciously telling ourselves “it can’t be done”, or “person so-and-so won’t like it”, or we are indecisive or afraid of failure and resulting unhappiness. I’m realizing this is something that I do quite often, usually without even noticing that I’m doing it. And I am realizing that there is a lot of value in taking a moment every now and then to work on myself and to really think about what I want and need in life.

Truthfully, in the mission, there aren’t many options around what I “want”. A lot of the big decisions have already been carved out for me. Sure I choose when to wash my clothes vs. writing my family on p-day, what to eat for breakfast, who to visit on a given day, where to look for service, and what service we end up giving. But I’ve been working on having a meaningful opinion about these things and, more importantly, expressing that opinion. And it’s been great for me. After knowing what we want, it’s all about putting on a game face, going out, and getting after it using the tools we’ve been blessed with.

I’ve come to respect people that don’t sit and wait to be blown wherever the wind will take them. I appreciate people who get up and act. On Wednesday, I met an awesome person. He doesn’t have much, but he has a small place to stay the night and he has a motorcycle that he uses to stay afloat. When we met, he passed us a small, hand-made business card that explained his “to-your-door” delivery service. He basically goes out and brings to people anything they want. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his idea, which is very revolutionary here, had long been mastered by Pizza Hut back home. But I was seriously taken aback by his ingenuity and work ethic. He calls himself the Genie of Ipiales. Latin America has the ultimate culture of do it yourself and ingenuity. Anything that can be used to make a living is used to make a living. I love the jugglers and fire-breathers at the stoplights. I love the small candy stores operated through iron-bar covered, living room windows. I love the people who sing, rap and tell jokes on the busses. I love the homemade business cards and constant offers for services. The pick-yourself up and make it happen culture has really taken root in me and I love the work ethic of this people. They are people of action and I love that!

On Thursday I went on splits with my zone leader who I really respect and appreciate. (Splits is a missionary word for when we switch companions for a day to share ideas, learn from one another and catch up on how things are going.) Being with him really helped me to think about my own next steps. For dinner, we called “The Genie” and requested hamburgers from the most authentic burger place that we know in Ipiales. Since we can’t have random people knowing where we live, we met him by the nearby statue to the Virgin Mary. (The people here are generally Roman Catholic with a deep respect for the Virgin Mary. One way they show it is to build throughout the neighborhoods, little shrines with rocks and jewels and a small fence to protect a small statue of Mary. They’re great for giving and following directions like when you need to meet someone delivering food.) In the zone leaders house I slept on a small, very dirty mattress that I was allergic to. The springs in the middle of it were broken so I could feel the slats coming through, holding me up. Elder Chavarraga told me a funny story about secretly removing the slats from the bunk bed one night and when his companion returned to climb into bed, the mattress gave out and he hit the ground.

Prayer has become so important to me. I’m not going to lie, it was something that was kind of new for me coming out here but now I know I can’t live without it. I’ve come to see that those who pray every day are the ones who progress. And I’ve seen over and over again that the people who don’t pray are the ones who struggle to leave the world behind and slowly slip away. I’ve had many experiences where my prayers have been answered directly and I’ve been guided in my efforts.

Friends, I encourage us all to take a moment, sit down, and think about our needed next step. Everyone has a dream. Everyone has a wish. Everyone has something they’d like to learn more about or something about themselves they’d like to improve. Think about it. Pray about it. And then plan a step in that direction. Take life on and go out and get it. Forget about failing. Don’t worry about the opinions of others. Make it happen. I love you all.

With love - EE

Week 40 - Serving in Different Ways

Dearest friends and family,

Today was a good day and tonight is a good night. There is a woman that sells avocados in a little fruit store five minutes from our house, 800 pesos (US 30 cents) each and Elder Soto and I have started the bad habit of bringing 2 back with us on our way home every night. It’s bad because we also buy a loaf of bread for 2,900 pesos ($1.10) and a pack of cocoa mix for 500 pesos (19 cents) and eat everything late at night in the apartment. Mom, is it bad to eat a half-loaf of bread with a spread of avocado every night? It’s so delicious with a little salt…ohhhh. I loved avocado before I left and now I obsess over it.

Speaking of food, let me tell you about Colombian breakfast: the keyword is caldo (bullion). Caldo though is a simple, brothy soup with potatoes and a meat. Caldo de castilla is the most popular and comes with beef ribs. I really enjoy it even though it is odd eating soup at breakfast. It’s usually served with eggs on the side, an arepa, and chorizo. What an awesome culture! Colombia definitely doesn’t need any help with its food. Oh ya – Allie: I hope you saw the picture of the Ramen from the USA that I bought from Alcosta this week. I ate it on your birthday in remembrance of you. Happy 17^th! (By the way that’s weird to say out loud.)

It’s been a great week. I am growing close with the six missionaries in my district and loving my weekly Tuesday meeting with these guys. Elder Welch always thinks of awesome activities because he’s an awesome guy. We did some service this week and I’ve found what surely must be the “heaviest object in the world’ – a 6-shelf bread oven. “You know, the kind you would use to bake bread, chicken, turkeys…whatever you happen to want a lot of” to quote President Villota who we were helping to move houses. His washing machine got really banged up and trashed by some random truck driver guy but he really kept his cool – proof I have a long way to go yet in being more Christlike because I would have lost it had it been my washing machine. I had another moment being jammed in the cab of the tiny car with a ridiculous amount of people - it reminded me of that day we went to pick up a mattress in Esmereldas five months ago. I say reminded me of that day but this was nowhere as bad as that day. Nothing could be worse than that day.

So my greatest fear out here turns out to be “uneros” (in-grown toe nails). Long story short, the mission is really hard on feet and shoes – we walk like 18-20 km everyday. Some missionaries have videos of their entire toenail being removed because of this medical issue. To be honest, my fear may mainly come from the third-world removal process. Well, now I have a video and it’s the worst thing ever. Elder Soto’s toe has been hurting him and it looks the early stages of an in-grown toenail and hearing his pain really makes me second-guess my foot care - I’m always looking at and guarding my feet, it’s terrible.

We are really helping a lot of people and I feel great about it. We are teaching one family that has a sensitive problem I will not share about but it’s been a huge blessing to me to witness how apology and forgiveness. I promise it’s never too late to repent and correct your course and that there aren’t problems so big that you can’t find peace from them.

One adventure this week was no power in the entire city the entire day Wednesday. It made morning study real hard without lights since there aren’t any windows in our little cave. And electricity is actually really important because we have an electric stove and electric heating shower. It’s really the little things out here that make the difference between having the happiest of days and a day where I have to step back and remember to breathe, smile, and just laugh at whatever comes my way. Little things like electricity in the house, a Colombian haircut, lots of empanadas, or receiving an email of encouragement from someone I haven’t heard from in a while. Or even a woman from a different ward stopping us in the street and giving us a little cake because she saw us and thought of her son who is currently serving as a missionary in Uruguay. I’m very happy and have learned to find joy in the little things. It’s quite a blessing.

Have an amazing week my friends and family. With all my love, EE

• We had a baptism on Saturday. It was great.
• We helped two people move this week and it really tired me out. They were both from 4th floors to 3rd and 2nd floors and I found myself physically exhausted. But it was really good - I love helping and serving people in different ways to mix it up a bit.
• Cycling is a big sport in Colombia - lots of people are watching it on TV
• I taught Elder Soto how to make tacos this week and they came out great
• Dad - I met someone from the other ward who served their mission in Neuquen (Argentina). We only talked for 2 minutes but it was a cool little moment for me feeling connected to you.

Week 39 - Keeping Balance

Dearest friends and family,

Hello. I’m feeling blessed to be writing you after another great week. There’s a lot to balance out here in the mission field and it brings a good feeling at the end of the week when I feel like there haven’t been too many stumbles or tripping moments. Do you know what I mean? Maybe nothing amazing happened but there was good movement in the right direction and, if there was a stumble, you recovered your step quickly and kept moving? It was that kind of week.

One thing you learn out here is to balance all of your feelings. I was able to call home via Skype to celebrate the day of my wonderful Mother on Sunday. On the surface and during the days leading up to the call I was stoked and, even as I was talking and sharing stories on the call, I was feeling pretty good. But when I hung up and later headed back to our apartment for the night I was shocked by very heavy feelings – that life back home is in fact going along perfectly fine without me and that it will be a good 7 months before I get to see my family again. I shook this funk pretty quickly come Monday with a few much needed comments and reminders in letters from my parents and loved ones. I don’t want to dwell on these feelings and mention them only because I want to be sincere in expressing my feelings. But know this: Mother’s Day has become a very special and emotional holiday for me.

I did get a kick seeing my family drinking some Colombian sodas my dad managed to secure at some Latin Market the week before. I really enjoy the Postobon, its great with picada which is a giant plate of meat pieces. Colombiana is also a favorite and I think any parent would gasp seeing the number of empty 2-liter bottles in our apartment. (And I’ve only been here 3 weeks! Ha!) They also had a malt drink that Elder Chavarraga told me is like a poor-man’s Pony Malta. I’m a Pony Malta “appreciator” so I got a chuckle when my family said they hated it. Everyone told me back at the coast to give it a week and I did learn to like it. I’m becoming an “appreciator” of lots of Colombian foods and goods and there’s a few things I will dearly miss from here when I eventually return to Ecuador. I love Palomitas (puffed rice with caramel coating), Ranchera hot dogs, Colombian hot chocolate powder mix, Hit Juices (especially naranja-pina) and almojabanas (a buttery bread roll that is delicious with Cuban flour). Yum.

Something that helps keep my balance positive are all of the amazing members, other missionaries and people we are teaching. A mission creates so many situations that cannot be found anywhere else – even more so the situations that arise service in a Latin American country. Lots of times these situations leave me dying of laughter. We gringos stick out and draw a lot of attention and comments from the people in the streets. The drunks want to meet me, shake my hand for uncomfortably long periods of time, and be my friend. The youth can be especially vocal and are always surprised when we understand and are able to respond to them. I don’t know – it’s all good stuff and helps me stay happy.

Ipiales is certainly an interesting place. It is larger and the town center is more built up than Tulcan but there are more areas on the outskirts and that’s where we find a lot of good work. The houses are more square and feel shorter than homes in Ecuador. There is a lot of metal work, car body, and motorcycle repair shops which makes many of the areas I’m in feel more industrial. There are also more dirt roads I’m walking with tall grasses on both sides. The stores like Exito and Alcosto are larger here – there’s something comforting about having a reliable store nearby. I enjoy the city a lot and Elder Soto and I are working hard.

We are teaching 3 people who are preparing for baptism in the next 3 weeks are so. We have an investigator who is 14 and will be joining her aunt and cousins in the church on the 27^th. We are extremely happy for her and have seen huge changes in the way she thinks and feels in just the last 3 weeks. She has worked hard to leave behind some habits that any person would be a lot happier without and has really lifted herself out of an otherwise tough up-bringing. She told us that she has felt incredibly relieved and happy in a way she’s never felt before and all I could think was like “uff – this is why I am here.” Her words were a definite push for my balance in the positive direction.

Friends, keep your balance and keep smiling. If you trip or stumble get up quick and never stop walking forward. I love you all. Have a great week!

- EE

Other tidbits:

• Okay so I’m doing infinitely better than I was last week and I’m really happy to be writing you guys. I still miss you like crazy but I’m doing well, I’m happy. There’s lots of joy to be had here.
• I’m loving the pictures of the prom, I really hope you enjoyed it Allie. I do have to say that I enjoyed my own prom way more, but the first one was also good. I hope you’re staying happy and that know I love you.
• It rained a lot this week. One day we had to go back and change because we got completely soaked.
• Oh Nathan I heard you like the name Pupiales. It is funny. There's lots of funny Colombian names.
• I got called on Friday night to give a talk in church on Sunday for 8 minutes. It went well. I don’t know why but I still get nervous talking in front of people in Spanish. I’m basically fluent which is awesome but sometimes I can’t find words and I worry I’m going to stumble in front of everyone. I do much better in smaller settings.

Week 38 - Happy Mother's Day

Dearest friends and family,

I have a growing sense that word “flexibility” is going to be a major theme for my mission. It’s remarkable how much you can plan and how those plans turn out becoming something completely different. It’s all good and a useful thing to learn. I mean who would’ve thought I’d be living in a rural area of the Narino province of Colombia? (I can tell you for certain Grandma Liz didn’t…and don’t worry, grandma, I’ll be back in Ecuador soon). Or who would’ve thought, on the day after Christmas, that Mother’s Day and a call home to my family would’ve come so quickly? I know I didn’t! The months from August to December last year seemed to go so slow and now January to May has gone so fast. Can you believe the sister missionaries who came out with me return home in 8 months? Wow!

So my dad made a summary of my call home to serve as my letter at Christmas and I am hoping he’s open to doing so again this week. I just wanted to write a quick opener to say: I’m here, I’m alive, I’m happy and I’m extremely excited to talk to my family. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in the world. Mom, thank you for raising me the way I am: perfectly imperfect. I love you and I can’t wait to tell you that in person soon.

-- Call Transcript --

Hey guys, what’s up? How’s it going? Trust me…you guys look better.

So you guys are going to have to tell me if I am speaking in the missionary up-speak voice, ok? Mitch, I laughed so hard after the Christmas call because you said I was using a…what do you call those people who call…ah, ya, a telemarketer’s voice.

Wow Nathan you are getting tall. I don’t like that at all.

So today is a really rainy day. It’s pouring a ton outside right now. It rains all the time. But it’s cool. I really enjoy Colombia. Pres Murphy asked me this week what the major differences are. The work is the same and the people are happy and the same. The food is infinitely better here, which is weird because I’m only 20 minutes from my last area. I laughed the other day…Ecuador has high tariffs or something so there’s no American food there, but here I saw some Heinz ketchup which was great because ketchup in Latin America is pretty terrible.

Where I was in Tulcan, they had more money there. The people I’m teaching and area I’m working in over here are in a lot more humble circumstances. I’m basically living in a cave right now – it’s very similar to our apartment on the coast. But I do have a shower!

Daily schedule? When I first arrived, every part of our day was planned out, every single minute. Now we have a lot more choice when we want to things. We have 90 minutes in the morning. We have to get up at 6:30 but we can choose when we want to take shower, do exercise, etc.

Today was a really good but sad day in Church. I have been really focused and working hard and not thinking about home for the last 3-4 months but today I was really sentimental. We sang a Mother’s Day song in Sacrament Meeting and I got really emotional. My ward is Jose Galan. It is really small and only about 70 people regularly attend. Our start time is 8am which is a huge hindrance. The area I am serving in is called Los Lirios.

We learned this week that the law about North Americans being out of Ecuador for no more than 90 days which would cap my time in Colombia is only a proposed law [so I may be here more than 2 transfers]. Our zone is all men and we’ve bene working out really hard because, well, we’re all guys here. They send us materials - boxes of books of Mormon, pamphlets and stuff - so we made our workout bench out of our microwave, these boxes, and 3 blankets. And we found this iron bar and got water jugs full of cement to make our barbell.

The people take advantage of the North Americans here so I have to be really careful when buying things. But I love Colombia. The only thing I don’t like is that the people get really offended if you eat too slow or turn away food – so we are eating a lot. If I don’t talk at first, people will typically ask where I’m from like it’s a possibility I’m not from the US. This is a good thing.

Hey Grandma – Elder Soto says he loves you. He asked if you are the grandma who sends me all the sweets. [Laughing off screen]. His favorites are Reese’s. Elder Soto is wonderful and we get along great. He wants to come visit San Diego and is relieved to hear there are Peruvian restaurants. [We show him cans of Colombiana soda we purchased at the Latin market and they’re impressed.] Oh, man. We love that stuff. The running joke here when ordering a Colombiana soda is to say “Deme una Colombiana, pero que sea bonita” which means “Bring me a Colombian but make sure she’s pretty.” All of the Latins say that when they buy it.

I am eating a ton of sausages called Rancheros? We don’t have mamitas. We have pensionistas and we go to same house every day for lunch. I am a lot healthier this way – I’m not as sick to my stomach this way. The food in Colombia is really good. We have cream of mushroom! Take a chicken, pound it out, roll it up with ham and cheese and pour cream of mushroom on top. I enjoy it a lot. We eat a lot of liquid yogurt. We eat arepas every day. It’s a cornmeal patty that they fry and add crumbly cheese – it’s called fresh cheese – and butter and then just fry it as little discs. Super good with eggs and hot dogs. We eat a lot of hot dogs here. I eat a lot of eggs. I’m probably going to have cancer or something – I’ve eaten like 5,000 eggs. But I think I’ve gained the weight back that I lost in the MTC and on the coast. [Someone hands him some juice.] Oh man, one thing I am really going to miss the most about Ecuador and Colombia when I come home is the juice. Every day we get fresh juice – like whole fruit blended up, fresh juice.

I’ve met and been talking to a lot of Venezuelans and their stories have impacted me and really changed my life. It’s really bad there. People in South America have cedula which is an ID card and they come with a number. In Venezuela, depending on the last number on your card, you line up for food like every 9^th day and you wait there for like a week to get your food. The people are eating once to once every other day. They are really special people and have a special place in my heart.

Pres Murphy is really funny – like unbelievably funny - and I love being around him. Quick story – so one of the missionaries here took his watch in to get the battery replaced and it turns out the watch guy took out all the metal pieces and replaced them with plastic ones. So we get this call that Elder XX is really mad and we run across town and find him fighting with this watch guy. So we had to report it to President Murphy because, well, you can’t do that. So Pres Murphy starts talking to Elder XX and keeps asking him “what time is it?” And Elder XX was like “what, you have a phone, you know what time it is” but President kept on asking. Finally, pained, Elder XX says “its 5:30” and President responds, “great, so it sounds like your watch is fixed.” I lost it. We are so very lucky to have him.

So my shoes are rotten. Not that they smell bad, but they are legitimately moldy from constantly being wet. Any tips? We are back to doing laundry on our own.

Something I need is a suitcase. The black one is great. We can have two big ones and a little carry on. I only have 1, everyone else has 2. So I don’t have very much room for the things I’ve acquired. So I’m looking. Other than that, I’m really good. I’m a lot happier. I am a completely different person because I was pretty depressed for a while – but now I am happy.

I have like 5,000 things to tell you. I slammed a guy’s fingers in the car door coming here. And he didn’t have thumbs. I got in the car normal and didn’t see him and went to close the door as he was trying to get in. Ugh – I felt so bad. He said a lot of bad words.

Every once in a while the kids come from school to interview people who speak English. So they come and ask us questions – basically the same questions every week. They always ask about Donald Trump. But I don’t know anything about him which is good.

Elder Cave (spelling?) is my replacement in Tulcan and he came to zone conference and told me the people there miss me. Which made me feel really good. I really miss the family Caliz. Hermana Caliz got sick and the dad had to sell his off-brand ipad to cover hospital bills. We gave her a blessing and she was doing a lot better. He’s really cool and I miss him a lot. He was always embarrassed to go to church because of scars on his face. It broke my heart that he worried about it. I’ve learned so much from the people there…I really loved that branch.

So here there are no laws about selling things in the road and there’s no FDA so no restrictions on what they sell. Selling things on the bus is especially popular. This one guy came on the other day and started singing a love song, just to me, and kept repeating “but love is stronger” like 50 times. It wasn’t like an attraction thing. So he started talking to me after, and shaking my hand, and said he needs the support of the US because he can’t get any bigger in Colombia than he is and needs to come to the US to hit the big time. I am definitely tallest among the people who I see every day.

The cyber costs $2.50 every week.

So my time is almost up. Every letter, thank you, they mean everything to me and help me survive. I really, really appreciate it. I love you guys. I’m not going to see you for 7 months. Some days it feels like its going fast, other days it feels like a time warp. Today was bad. I was thinking about mom a lot today and being home.

But thank you for everything. A lot of the missionaries seem to forget about home and I really appreciate you writing me and keeping me grounded. [Breaks down.] Christmas is a perfect time in the mission.

Wait, we need to do a family picture. [We move in close.] How are you doing Allie? I miss you so much, honestly. I love you so much. Write and tell me about the movies and music.

Bye all. I love you.