Baptism and a Birthday.

Hey fam, friends - all!

SO this week was pretty slow going until Saturday hit... Then BOOM. Haha. During the week I had a division. I went with Elder Walker in his area in Ciudad Cordova, here in Cali. He has less time than me in the mission, but he only got lost like 2 times. Haha Poor guy. He's awesome, though. I love teaching with him. Anyway, normal week until Friday night. Jaison called me and told me he didn't want to get baptized... So Saturday morning we went to his house and found him and Ingrid, his girlfriend, there. We sat down talked for a bit, and then started a serious talk. I talked to him and told him that he was just scared, but it's normal to be scared before something like this. He told me "No, no, no, I can't." I have been teaching him since I got here, and there are quite a few reasons why he wouldn't be baptized. But I was getting tired of being in this cycle with him, so I straight up told him, "I'm baptizing you today, and Ingrid, if you feel like you would like to be baptized today, I'll baptize you as well, but I'm baptizing Jaison today..." They looked at each other, asked for a minute, and then 2 or 3 minutes after came back and asked me, "What time?" I said, "We will do it at 3'o'clock today" ( in 3 or 4 hours). So Elder Caja and I ran out of the house to go grab the Bishop's keys, grab baptismal clothes, get to the chapel to fill the baptism font - all in 3 hours. Elder Caja set off the church alarm when we went to fill the baptismal font - it was such a crazy 3 hours. Anyway, we got the baptismal font going, got members informed, and went and picked up Jaison and Ingrid. 

 

We picked them up, and on the way to get in a taxi, Jaison's dad showed up, and I was like "Ohhhh noooo." Jaison's dad isn't a fan, and is one of the reasons for him not getting baptized, etc. But Jaison told him, "I'm going to get baptized, "and hopped in the taxi. I was super proud of him! So we got to the church, got them some baptismal clothes, and had a really nice baptismal service. There weren't tons of people, but the spirit was super strong. Jaison gave me a big hug after I pulled him out of the water with tears in his eyes. I had to baptize Ingrid twice - her hand came out of the water haha! It's all good though. Super cool. Jaison's mom even showed up for the baptism. So Sunday morning for the confirmation I was at the sacrament table to bless the sacrament when the meeting started, and Jaison and Ingrid hadn't shown up... Man, I was stressin' like nuts - praying my hardest. Right as the bishop called Jaison and Ingrid names to come up and get confirmed, they walked in... WHEW. So we started with Ingried. Elder Wilcox confirmed her, and then it was Jaison's turn. The bishop asked me to do it. So I confirmed Jaison (in front of everybody) a member of the church with a blessing. My first confirmation. My hands were shaking pretty bad. Anyway, Saturday and Sunday were great and stressful, too. 

 

Today is Elder Cajas birthday, so we baked some brownies, bought some candles, and sang happy birthday with Elder Wilcox and Zambrano. It was pretty chill. Sorry I don't have much time. Gotta cut it short, but all in all a pretty good week. Anyway, I love you all, and I'll send some pics, too! Have a good week everybody. I'm grateful for all the prayers and support. Hey, go to the temple this week if you feel overwhelmed. I felt overwhelmed this week a few times, and I wish I could go to the temple, but my prayers and scripture study always help as well. I love you all. Have a good week!

Elder Dean.

After the baptism: Elder Dean, Ingrid, Jaison, Jaison's Mom, Elder Caja

 Ingrid, Elder Dean, Jaison

Elder Caja- the birthday boy.

Pare! Pare! and a Soccer Tournament.

Hello there.

Hey everyone. Hope you guys all had a good week. Things are normal here in good old Cali Colombia. You know, drunks trying to punch me, gun shots, dogs humping my leg... all that good stuff. But seriously, a stupid dog. I was in a old lady's house with the zone leaders and my companions eating lunch, and I was calling another old lady to confirm lunch for the next day, when this big dog straight up attacked and tried to violate me... I was yelling "PARE PARE Elder Wilcox Ayudame!!! Pare!" (Stop! Stop! Elder Wilcox help me! Stop!) The old lady I was talking on the phone with was probably super confused, and after, I couldn't talk to her on the phone because we were all busting up laughing haha. Dang. 

 

Anyway, my week this week was pretty good. I finished Alma in the Book of Mormon in Spanish and just truckin' along in Helaman. Good stuff. This week we had interviews with President Prince. That was good. And sister prince gave me banana bread -even better. But the best thing was President Prince called my mom because I have completed a lot of mission goals these past few months.  He told her I was doing good, and even let me talk to her for 30 seconds! It was great. I couldn't say much because I was trying to keep it together sitting there across from President,  but it was super cool. I love it.

 

 Today for p-day we had our soccer tournament with all of the missionaries here in Cali. Unfortunately we lost 2 and tied 1. Not too hot haha. We lost to the team that won in our first game in the last 30 seconds. We were winning with 30 seconds to go, 2-1, and in the last 30 seconds they scored twice. LAME. Haha but it's all good. Anyway, we had some people show up to church too, which is awesome. Hopefully we can start to progress here in the next few weeks. I gotta go- out of time. Sorry about the short email. I'll try to write more next week! Love you all. Have a good week!

Elder Dean

Farallones Zone

Front:  Elders Wilcox and Moran

Back:  Elders Mina, Caja, Dean, Lawrence, Viza, S. Walker, Zambrano, Jones

Pretty Normal Week.

Hey there everybody.

What's new folks? Nothing too new here in Cali Colombia... This week was pretty normal! We worked hard all week to have good church attendance, but it wasn't too hot :( A few people showed up though, so that's good. Elder Caja and I are trying to find new people to teach, and get the people we are teaching to church! It's hard to progress in the gospel as an investigator if ya never go to church haha! Also, we have been thinking, and there is a heap of inactives here in this ward... We are thinking about spending more of our time trying to find inactives and working with them, even though that's not really the culture in this mission. Hoping this next week that we will break through and have some success here and get some people progressing. One night we were in an investigators house, and a lady walked in and shook elder Caja's hand and tried to kiss him on the cheek (it's common here to kiss on the cheek when greeting). He did a good bob a weave and moved out of the way. It was super awkward to watch haha! I thought for a moment she was gonna come after me too, but she didn't haha. The funny things that happen here in the mission. Sorry I never have time to write more stuff! Today for p-day we woke up and studied, and then went and played soccer with people at the church. I scored twice, but I was super pooped out after. After soccer, we went with some of our zone and bought matching shirts for our team. There is a mission soccer tournament the next two Mondays - zones against zones. Anyway, I gotta run everybody, but I will write more next week and hopefully have some good news and success in the area. Love you all. Have a good week! Oh, and do your visiting teaching and home teaching, read the scriptures, go to church and the temple, and serve others and be good boys and girls :) haha Nos Vemos!

Elder Dean

New Comp and Conference.

FAM. FRIENDS.

Hey evvvverybody. Whats up? So I guess I'll just start off by saying that I hope you all watched conference! It was awesome! I got to watch in English in a class room in the stake center here. Elder Wilcox, Elder Welling, Elder Perounoud and I were watching together. Also, Elder Menendez, the other assistant and a couple elders from the office, Elder Perez and Elder Flores, watched with us. They speak English pretty good. My word conference went by sooo fast! I keep glancing at my watch wishing the time would slow down... It flew! I enjoyed it a lot, that's for sure. I can't remember everything that I learned, but I know I felt the spirit super strong. I think my favorite talk was Elder Uchtdorf in the priesthood session, but it's a hard decision.... So I had my first week here with my new companion, Elder Caja. He's from Peru, and he's 26 years old. He's a good guy, but most of the responsibility is on me doing phone calls and planning and everything... A little stressful, but it's all good. Today for p-day I woke up, studied for a few hours, washed my clothes and cleaned house for a bit, and then went and ate lunch with the zone leaders, and we played chess after for a while. We had a little mini tournament and I took 3rd... I'm not too good at chess. Elder Wilcox won and Elder Zambrano took 2nd and my companion came in last. He had to by Elder Wilcox an ice cream haha. Anyway, not too much to tell this week. I'm grateful for your prayers always. Especially in the next following weeks as my responsibility is this area now... Anyway, I'll talk to you all later. Hope you all have a good week, read the Book of Mormon, go to church, and go to the temple if ya can. Enjoy the fall weather out there. I'm seriously missing fall time right now :( Love you ALLL! (Sorry this email is so short) Talk to you next week!

Elder Dean

Baptisims and Transfers.

Hello There.

Hey everyone. What's happening? I'm just here in Cali, Colombia - ya know the drill. So this past Saturday we had a baptism service! We worked and stressed and all that, but we ended up baptizing 6 people! 4 from Elder Cartes and I, and 1 from the zone leaders who we share a ward with, and 1 guy named Carlos that wasn't kinda a joint baptism I guesss haha. We baptized Octavio and his wife Carmen, and Carlos from Spain had the opportunity to baptize his wife. That was really cool. We also baptized Sebastian. He's 17. A good kid for sure. The next day, Sunday, it was raining a lot, but everybody made it to the chapel, and we confirmed them all. I got to baptize Hermana Carmen, and got to stand in on a few of the confirmations. Super cool stuff. It's been pretty stressful lately, but that was great to see. I hope and pray everyone of them will continue and grow in the church and not fall away.  We also received news last night about transfers. My companion, Elder Cartes, will be leaving tomorrow morning (Tuesday) at 7  in the morning. We completed a little over 3 months here together in Limonar. My new companion will be Elder Caja. He is from Peru. He has about 16 months in the mission. This is somewhat my area now, and the stress that comes along with it because my comp won't know the area haha. Also we baptized our investigators, so now we will have to start new and start finding investigators and try and build up and investigator pool. Prayers accepted :) Today for p-day we have been doing a few things to get ready for tomorrow. We went and ate at McDonald's for lunch. I had a big mac and fries. haha I don't ever get to eat food like that - ever! Now after this, Elder Cartes wants to go say goodbye to everybody he knows haha - but its all good. Anyway, I love you all and I will be grateful for your prayers. Until next week- with a little more info about my new companion and all that jazz! Ciao!

Elder Dean

 Marian, Carlos, and Baby Carlos

 Elder Dean, Carlos, Elder Wilcox

 Elder Dean, Sebastian, Elder Cartes

 Elder Dean, Octavio, Carmen

 Group Shot

Leaving the baptismal font with Hermana Carmen. The water was cold, but never felt warmer!