"We are already preparing for President and Sister Prince´s departure."

Me and Cristiano Renaldo - people are going crazy down here with the World Cup

These are the "rich" house of Cali

Saying goodbye to Elder Aldunate.

My new comp's name is Elder Henao, he is from Medellín, Colombia and is the first Colombian I have had as a companion my whole mission!

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More baptisms!

Pretty cool edition of the Contamelo we did this past week to help the missionaries plan how to start their month on a good note!

Hiyaa! Hemos llegado otra vez al final del mes... increíble no?? 

First of all I would like to excuse myself for not writing these past few weeks! I think Mom had to face her two worst fears these past weeks... flying and not hearing from her missionary haha. What happened was these past two Saturdays we had zone conferences in cities outside of Cali, and when we got back we had baptisms, so there was no possible chance to write.

So I'll try to get you all caught up with the time that I have...

Well I'm sure you all know via the Hermana Prince blog that I have a new companion! Yes Elder Aldunate left last week and wow was that really sad, he has been one of my really good friends here in the mish and it seems like just about all of my good friends are now home! My new comp's name is Elder Henao, he is from Medellín, Colombia and is the first Colombian I have had as a companion my whole mission! He is just great, a boost of energy for just about anyone and brings a lot of maturity and experience to the work. 

We have been really blessed lately in our area, we have had baptisms every Saturday for the past 3 weeks and 2 more tonight! We are working just great with the members in our ward. The Lord has taught me a lot in my mission about how to work with members in order to share more effectively the Gospel. It's fun to go around handing out pamphlets and knocking doors all day long but I feel like when the people are prepared first by activites and member fellowship, they are more receptable to the Spirit and it´s teachings. Just like the parable of the sower we are not just throwing out seeds to dry ground, we prepare the soil first so that the seeds have a good place to grow! If only I would have figured this out earlier in my mission... haha. 

We are already preparing for President and Sister Prince´s departure.. we have gotten the opportunity to speak with the new mission president and his wife through Skype and let me tell you they are super excited to come to Cali. They are from Uruguay and a little fun fact is that the new president is the former stake president of my former comp Elder Menendez. I am sure Elder Menendez has told him all about Cali and what to expect when they get here. It has been a little sad though just because this past round of zone conferences was the last time President will see a lot of his missionaries and let´s just say he is taking it a little hard. It will be interesting to be able to see the change of the guard when the new commander in chief gets here! 

This next week will sure be a little crazy, we have 9 new missionaries getting here on Tuesday and that means the trip up to Cristo Rey, taking them to see a baptism, interviews with President and teaching them the geography of the mission. We have transfers on Wednesday along with the initial training of the new missionaries and the training of their trainers, that is always a hectic day, and then to top it all off we have the leadership council on Thursday, the last that President Prince will be a part of. 

So that is a brief update on whats going on here, glad to see Mom´s flight went okay! I was praying for her and I think the answer to that prayer was Hunter who had the Christ-like act of the day on the plane! I am happy that Mom gets an opportunity to be with Grandma, I treasure the last moment I was with Gpa and Gma Ford, right before heading into the MTC receiving such great support and comfort from them. 

I just want to say that I know God´s plan is true, everything will be okay in the end. All of our anguish of soul and sadness through hardships and trials we face in this life will be overcome with the joy of having an eternal family thanks to the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the knowledge of this plan and for all the time I have had to teach it here in Colombia. I hope Grandma knows I love her and think about her a lot. Send her my love while I finish the work to which I have been called here in Colombia! 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Eliason