Merry Christmas 2014 and Happy New Year 2015

FELIZ ANO NUEVO A TODOS

 

Hey everybody. How's it going? I hope you all had a good Christmas. I heard it finally got really cold in Utah. Awesome. This past week was good.The 23rd we had zone conferences with all the north zones in the mission. It was good. We got together and it was pretty much just like a get together. We sang Christmas songs, watched 17 Miracles, and got some Christmas presents (candy). The 24th was good. We worked our best, and then Christmas Eve we did a little cook off with the Beltran family. They are a good family, and have 2 sons in the mission field. The brother called President Pricoli while we were there, and got permission for us to be there until like10 at night. It was good. Christmas day was pretty normal ... woke up studied, etc...(there were still people partying and drinking haha) and we only had like 1 appointment, but we did our best and visited some. Elder Campos called home at like 6, and then I called home after to finish up the night. I love you all. It was so good to skype. Other than that, things are cruising along. Wednesday  and Thursday this week is New Years. We'll see how it goes... 2014 passed by quickly. I spent the whole year in Colombia. Crazy. 2015 will be full of new things. Every year there are new things. I have many goals finishing up my mission here, and many more things to come. I love you all. Happy New Years!

Elder Dean

 

Christmas conference. The 2 missionaries I got to the field with.

Elder Lyle and Elder Correa. Old dogs.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

 

First Week In Palmira.

Merry Christmas to all!

Well, actually it's the 22nd, but Merry Christmas everybody! Can I just tell you all that leaving Colon was super hard for me. Haha. After 6 months there, I was totally used to the area, members, apartment, neighbors, and streets - it was hard for me this week for sure. But anyway, here I am in Palmira. My branch is pretty big. It's the biggest branch in Palmira. I think there were probably at least 90 people in church Sunday. It was weird. They did sacrament meeting last. It was kinda funky. Ha! I know the area more or less now. It's pretty easy to get to know. It's a pretty calm place.  A lot different than Cali, that's for sure. But anyway, we worked hard this week, and there's always room for improvement. Tomorrow we have to go to Tulua (it's another city about 1 hour or so more north) for a multi zone Christmas conference with President. Planning on skyping the 25th! Pumped to see you all. I love Christmas, and even though it's so much different than at home, I feel happy to be here in the mission, sharing the gospel with others. We remember Jesus Christ and his birth. We remember that thanks to him our families can be happy and be eternal. We remember that we can find peace and forgiveness, confidence, and strength. I love you all. Merry Christmas. Enjoy the snow. It's hot here.

 

Familia Cuadros.

 



 

Last week saying goodbye to Colon. Couldn't take pics with everyone.

 

Palmira

Hey world.

So everybody - hope you had a good week. I had a pretty good week. It was a pretty normal week until Saturday night. The APs called me and informed me that I'm getting transfered tomorrow. Out of the clear blue. Transfers aren't until the 30th. Real surprise. I'm getting transfered to Palmira. It's a town about 1 hour north of Cali. It's little and hot. I will be in a branch. My zone will be small- only 12 missionaries. My time here in Colon came to an end. 6 months here. I was excited to be here for Christmas with all the members. Bummer! But, oh well. My new companion is Elder Campos. He's a good friend of mine. He will be ending his mission in a month and a half. Also from Peru. Haha! Today I went to la loma de la cruz and bought some hand made art because I might not have the chance to come back to Cali again. Who knows! Harrison invited me to lunch at waffles and crepes. Love that guy! Looking back, my time here in Colon was interesting. I honsetly didn't have a lot of baptisims here, and there were some hard parts about being here... But honestly I have made some of my best friends here in this ward. I truly feel part of the ward, and feel like family to many of the members. I feel like I have grown. Now going forward. Onward ever onward. Until next week.

Elder Dean

Christmas caroling with the district on Sunday

Candle Day.

Hey all. 

What's happening? Well, I hope you all had a good week. This week was good for us - working away... This week we had zone leader council. It was pretty good... I've been in so many now, but they are always good. We had a good zone meeting as well with the zone this week. Yesterday was "candle day" here in Colombia. They turn out all the lights except for the Christmas lights, and light a bunch of candles. It's for the virgin. It was pretty, but I found it ironic that it quickly turned into a drunk fest. All night they were setting off super loud fireworks that shook the house and we couldn't  sleep too well. But anyway, that's December in Colombia! The Christmas devotional was really nice, too. It was a bummer though that I watched it in Spanish. It's always nice to listen to the original voice, but oh well. I saw Octavio and Carmen at the devotional. We baptized them when I was in Limonar with Elder Cartes. Good news. They are going to the temple the 19th of December to get sealed! So awesome! Good for them. Anyway, that's about all that happened this week folks... But I love you all. I hope you have a good week. Me and my companion are contacting like crazy. I've never really done it in my mission until now, but you gotta do what you gotta do. We are trying. I really do know that the gospel is true. Keeping the commandments brings true happiness. Love you all. Talk to you more next week.

Elder Dean 

Spirit of Chirstmas.

Hey all.

Hey everybody. How's it going? Hope every thing's good. I'm a little short for time. I've only got about 10 min left til pday is over... But anyway, this week was pretty good. It was fairly normal, and Elder Tolentino and I are working away. I'm grateful for my many blessings and the opportunity that I have to be serving. This week we will have leadership council, and I think we are going to start caroling as a district once a week in December. That's not really a tradition here, so I don't know how it will turn out, but I think it will be cool. I love you all and thanks for all your prayers. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday about the law of tithing and the spirit of Christmas (interesting talking about the two together. Thanks bishop for letting me know 5 min before sacrament meeting started haha). But i hope that we can all get in the spirit of Christmas by forgetting ourselves and serving others this Christmas season. I hope you all have a good week, and I'll write more next week!

Elder Dean