Back to the South I Go!

Well this week was a great one. Just overall having the oppertunity to get back into normal missionary work has been awesome and a little wierd. Truthfully i feel like the time goes by just as fast if not faster here in the field. I feel great after now a full week in my new area of valencia.

This week started with alot of service are area here is fairly large so we kindof have alot of members and investagators more or less. We have this one couple his name is terry and her name is karen. Karen is a member but terry isnt so recently weve been visiting them theyve been coming to church and terry wants to get baptized but there not married yet so were working on that. Anyways terrys sister is pregnent and so they been building like a attachement part of the house for her to live in and the baby and her husband for when the babys born and everything. So we helped on Wensday getting the walls up and getting the bathroom built and stuff it was pretty fun. We didnt finish it all but we got a good little amount done. The picuters dont really show or explain what we were doing but we pretty much were builging the walls with dirt and concrete.

The beging of the week was wierd too because this week is whats called semana santa. Which is suppose to be the hottest week of the year but on monday and tuesday it was super cloudy and raining really wierd but i enjoyed it. Then Through out the rest of the week weve been just talking to alot of people and getting some new investagators and stuff. I love this area because its just so big the houses are clumped together on little roads so we can contact really easy. The only bad thing is the people here are a little bit hard headed normally dont want to talk to us so we just have to fight through the numbers and find the chosen ones.


Other than that me and my companion elder stange had something kindof cool happen to us we were just walking down the road contacting and there was this elderly man in his 70s or so sitting on this bench thing so we went up contacted him and in the end invited him to come to church and he said he was going to come but truthfully we get that alot sometimes but they never come. So i gave him a pass a long card that on the back said la iglesia el domingo a las 9am. Which just mean (Church Sunday at 9am)  Then wrote are names on the back and everything.

Well sunday comes around and the sacrament meeting starts were sitting in the back to see everyone and we have one other investagator there which is awesome. To honest I had forgoten about that old man but about 20 mins into the meeting he walking in nice button up and slack and i nuged my companion who was dosing off a little bit to say and he said thats the old man we talked to and invited and i yeah. Well after the meeting i went up to him we started chatting and he said you know i told you in evangelical but the spirt brought me here today and i really feel good here he said. We then invited him to stay he said he couldnt but then gave us his number and address and said im always at home just give me a call ill be waiting for your visit.

So kindof a cool little story for you guys now to end and to explain why it says back to the south i go. Welll on Tuesday is changes. So throughout the past 10 days or so i had a feeling in changes that i might be leaving. So President Bowler normally calls on sunday nights if some one is traing or going to be district leader or zone leader or anything special like that. Well at about 8 oclock last night we were in are mission correlation meeting and we get a call from president bowler. My companion anwsers the phone and he gets told he will be traing a new person then i automaticly know that im leaving but where i did know yet?

So my companion passes me the phone and president bowler says "Elder foster how are you" He then says " I have a special assignment for you, im going to be sending you to the south" And your going to be opening a area that we just took both missionarys out of. Your going to be senior companion and im putting you with a companion who only has 3 months left in the mission and hes a little dificult but i know you can do it. Then he finishes by saying, also ill be making you the district leader down there. So i got all this info and i thought well where ever he wants to send me ill go! So im pretty excited and nervous a little the thing is ill be going to Iztoca A about 9 months ago I was in Iztoca B but the areas arnt attached or anything. Even now Iztoca B meets in the own building unlike before were both of us met in the Iztoca A church. The only thing is i will know the bishop and some members which is nice but me and my new companion will not know anything just be starting from scratch!

Its kindof cool its going to be a little difficult im sure but im ready for the challenge! So tomorrow im heading back on down to the heat! It should be interesting and a good ole little journey! But what you gonna do just keep on pushing. The mission is going great what can i say I love being a Missionary! I love and miss you all i hope you all have a great week and i will be talking to you next week from back down in the south!
---ELDER FOSTER---

La Vida en Valencia

Hello everyone it feels so weird writing on Mondays again. Im back to the normal missonary life and everything its great i love it. The area that im in right now is called Valencia im still here in the city and very close to where i was before. My companion is named Elder Stange hes from California. He has about  2 months less then me hes a good guy. One cool fact about him is he has a older brother that is serving in Tennessee, but i belive he will be finishing soon.

Other then that all is going well. Right after i sent my email on saturday i came straight to the area. Its really big there use to be 4 missionarys here but now theres only 2. Theres a few rich residencials where we are but some we can get in and others they wont even let us touch the intercom buttons. But we do have one other big part thats just a lot of little calles with house after house and just tons of people out always to talk to its great.

Truthfully I dont know how long ill be here because changes are coming up soon. But eaither way im just treating it as if i was to live her forever. The house is not too bag but the bad news back to the bucket shower no more good showers and defently no hot water. But i dont mind the cold bucket of water gets me awake and ready for the day. Other than that all is well sunday was stake confrence so i really didnt get to se the chuch or all the member that normally come. 

Me and my companion have been working hard we have some investagators but its a work in progress and i havent had a real chance to get to know them all yet. This week is whats called semana santa here and its a whole week thing were no ones in school or works and a lot of people leave for vaccion. Its also suppose to be the hottest week of the year but the wierdest thing is its actully raining and really cloudy so kindof cool i guess. P day with the zone was fun we just played games at the church then ate together.

Well thats about it not too much to talk about since saturday. But ill talk to you all on next Monday dont forget that im back to mondays. Love and miss you all friends and family. Have a great week and well talk again soon.

Elder Foster

My Last Day in The Office

Well the time has offically came I will be leaving the office today and going to another area. So what was originally suppose to happen is I wasent going to leave the office until the 30th of March (which is changes). Well right now we have about 6 mini missionaries serving here in our mission. A mini missionary is just a young man normally 16-22 years old whos preparring to serve a mission. So they come to be a mini missionary for normally a change or so. So what happened is that one of them cant stay until changes for family matters and has to go back home. Well changes are less then two weeks now so President Bowler decided that ive now be training Elder Coe for 2 weeks now and he belives its fine and sufficent so instead of calling another mini missionary for less than two weeks he just going to send me out to fill the spot a little early.

So I only recieved this information on Thrusday so latley the past two days ive been getting my bags ready and saying bye to all the members and everything. So kindof a crazy end of the week. Anyways to go back now to what happened in the begging of the week it was still normall and good on sunday we had some one investagators come to church and we had 3 baptisims planned for the end of this month so if they would have been ready and everything it would have been awesome but now im leaving it in the hands of my fellow companions. Then on monday and Tuesday it was truthfully alot of office work and everything. So I stayed with Elder coe helping him get everything down and stuff he will do great.

Then on Wednesday we had to go to the part of the mission called Danli. This is over in the east part of the mission. There is 3 parts more or less the city, the south, then the east. So in all my time in the mission ive never been down to the east so it was kindof cool to get to go down that way and take and drop off some materials for the missionarys down there. It wasent too far like a little under 2 hours each way we made it back that same afternoon then went to the area to work.

Then on Thursday is when everything stated going down. So to start we had district meeting and that went well and everything. Then after we all went out for lunch and then thats when I was told that i will be leaving the office early. So from there we just went finshed a few things in the office and then went to the area and started saying all the goodbyes and everything. It was kindof sad because i was telling everyone i wasent leaving until the 30th because that was the plan so i did get to see all the members i wanted to say bye to but it was still good. We ate alot of food the last two days and even one really great family made me a cake.

La Familia Turcios

  

Mi Amigo Ricardo Martínez

La Familia Cambar

                                                   

Mi Amigo Thor y David

La Familia Martínez

              So now that my time is over in the office its been great ive learned alot and had a really great time. Being in a Trio has been fun and also just being with all the Elders and Hermanas in the office. The other good news is that I get a double p-day as well because starting again on Monday ill be having p-days on Monday yayy! But for atleast today i had to send my email so you guys know that ill be back to writing on Mondays again. Its been a great almost 7 months here in the office ive loved every part of it but now ill be heading out to the real field again and im pumped! Well I love and miss all you guys. I hope you have a great week and I guess I will be sending a short email just to update you all on my new area and companion on monday. Thanks and have a great week!

THE OFFICE CREW

                                     

   

He has Arrived!

The time has finally came I will be leaving the office. On Monday my replacement came in and if everything works out as planned at the end of the month I will have finished training him and we will be going to back out to the normall field at the begining of changes.

This week has been full of things and kindof tiring but as always a great week. To start with Sunday we had a confrence that was like all of central America and it was pretty good we had some investagators come and everything was really good. On Monday is when everything started to go down. So to start I had to get surgery on my big toe ive had a ingrown toe nail for some time and i finally decided that it was time to get it taken out. Better sooner then later I Figured.

So that is a little picture of my toe after the surgery. I got 2 stiches pretty cool huh? I put one of the nicer pictures on there so you all wont be too tramatized. It wasent too bad except for the shots that had to put in my foot you can see the little dots where they put them in. But after the shots it was all good i didnt feel a thing. I wasent able to work for 3 days but with me just getting my office son as they call it i just showed him alot of things and now my toes fine i keep it wraped up and its healing well. 

So to the next big new I have my replacement. My time in the office is finally coming to a end i cant belive truthfully that i have more then 6 months now in the office but the time just goes by so quick.

So my replacements name is Elder Coe. Hes from Utah he has 19 months so is pretty much at the last parts of his mission. The cool thing is when i started the mission in Tapaire we shared that area so i kindof knew him before and everything so its been good. 

The other thing is that the mission has changed the way of doing divisions so now if your a DL or a ZL the missionaries actully come to your area and you 4 work there instead of splitting up 2 and 2 so now all the DL and ZL and Sister training leaders need to have 4  beds and 4 chairs but alot just has the basic 2. So just this week we received a bunch of chairs and mat kingof things and now are in charge of getting them out to all the areas. So all Wednesday and Thursday we were in the South. We drove down in the morning and we there all day then headed back the following day in the afternoon. It was a lot of driving to alot of different areas but it was a good experice and we got to see a large part of the mission. So i went with elder Coe and we did that it was a long trip but fun and productive.

Then on Friday was just a normall day in the office then i got to go to the area. So that was nice the thing is right now were in a trio then one other elder as well will be leaving the office and is training his office son as well. So right now there is 6 of us in here so we did pretty good this week about doing divisions and being able to keep the area well.

Also we had 2 other missionaries living with us for the week and still with us because of differnt reasons like injurys and stuff so we have been 8 in the house and its been interesting. But im just enjoying all the crazyness and madness that the office has to bring because in 2 weeks im out to the normall life just me my companion and the area. So im ready! But we also area going to have a baptisim on Next Saturday so hopefully all that goes well and i can get that right before i leave.

Well thats all about i have time for. I hope you enjoy the pictures of my big toe injury and me and my new comp. Everything else is going great loving the mission and everythings good. I miss and love all you guys. I hope you all have a Great week and talk to you next Saturday!

Love the one the only ELDER FOSTER

Gira de la Misión

Hello Everyone I hope you all had a great week! This week was kindof busy but just like any other week I guess. Starting with sunday which was a pretty great day we had 3 investagators at church. 2 of them which are really postive and for the last month or two weve been visiting them and everything but hadent came to church or anything. But then finally this last week Franciso y Marlin came to church! The thing is our church starts at 8 so we figured that they would probably come late. But they were right on time and actully knew alot of people there and they said they had a great experience.

Then to make sunday even better in the afternoon we went on divisions with two priest to do more visits. Then we ran into one of our past investagators name German. This was all the way back to when i first came to the office and was with Elder Lozano he was just about ready to be baptized and everthing then had to moved. Well he Moved Back! We just started talking and he said yeah im ready to be baptized you guys dont even need to teach me everything again I remember and im ready! Crazy miracle really i couldnt believe it. We passed by last night and went over everything he knows it all and is ready so the following week if all goes well we will have a baptism. Then with the other two Marlin and Francisco they have a little bit of a problem with coffe but there working on it and have dates to be baptized as well which is awesome.

Its so weird as i come down to the end of the time here in the office and my area its like all these miracles are just coming out of no where. And i just want to be here to see all the baptisms and everything so i hope all works out good because theres still a little bit of time. Then to the rest of the week. Monday was just a normal office day a bunch of stuff just comes out of nowhere and we stuck there almost all day. Then Tuesday was better we got to our area earlier and had a lot of real good lessons! For wednesday is when everything started getting kindof crazy. We have the mission tour this week. Its were a seventy who is in the area presidency comes a tours the mission talks to the missionarys and just a bunch of things. So on Wensday he was down south. Then on Thursday he came up to the city and the east part of the mission came and we all recieved instructions and stuff.

Friday was the consejo with all the leaders and he just talked alot about Baptism, the attonment of Christ and we did some practices and everything the whole thing was really good. Then today P-day woo hoo. We just got up early and played soccer with people from our areas there was about 15 of us it was pretty fun. I messed my toe up kindof bad with the nail so hopefully that gets better.

Other then that all is going well. Next week comes my replacement for the office. Then ill train him for 3 weeks then im out at the end of March on changes. So it should be interesting and fun. Im ready to get out and go to a real area and everything. Then office has been great i learned alot but now that i have more then 6 months in here im ready to go! Well I hope all you guys have a great week! Love and Miss you all and I talk to you next Week!

***ELDER FOSTER***