Birthday Adventures!

This week was interesting.  We had a lot of things happen.  Our baptism fell through.  Hopefully it will happen in two weeks or so.  We've had some challenges getting people to church.  A lot of our investigators live way up in the mountains.  They don't get home until late.  It's dangerous to walk up there late at night so we have been doing more contacting down lower in the city.  And without our phone (which was stolen) we haven't been able to call our investigators!

As far as the robber story goes, (since Dad told you...) he took my backpack and scriptures, but not my personal ones, and my sweater was in there---nothing else.  My  passport and all that is safe in the offices, but I had a little hand held ID.  Because that was stolen I had to go to the immigration offices for like 5 hours on my birthday to get a new ID.   My missionary name tag was in my bag so I only have 1 right now.  I should have a new one of those in a week or so.   D left for another city, and we haven't been able to call him since our phone was taken.  That's the worst part about getting robbed, we lost a ton of investigators and future investigators, but I trust the Lord has a purpose for everything.

So how about this.....I spent my birthday in Bogota trying to pick up the pieces from what I lost in my bag.  It was actually pretty nice because I got to stay at the secretaries home.  They have the nicest home in the mission.  They have hot water, a dryer, an oven, and recliners in their house.  It was almost like home!  Plus there are more restaurants in Bogota so for my birthday dinner I had 3 Big Macs and they were delicious.

Birthday Big Macs!

I had a ton of emails for my birthday and because we only have an hour to write I didn't get to write everyone back or read them all.  I felt loved and supported and so grateful.   I will try to respond in the next few weeks but if you could please let people know for me that I was so grateful for them thinking of me.   I had a great birthday, though it wasn't quite the same here in the mission. Its very different but special in its own way.

My new love...Hashbrowns and gravy!

I am so happy that you all got the gifts I sent home and exactly as timed.  :)  I hope you like the soccer shirt and it fits.  Everyone is tiny here so I wasn't sure.  The package only cost me about $60 for everything so it wasn't too much and I hope everyone liked their gifts!

I've been studying the Book of Mormon a lot lately.  King Benjamin.  I've been reading his discourse on pride.  It's easy at times to recognize it in others, but I've been reflecting on my own heart lately.   My goal is to be more humble when I come home from the mission than I was before I left.   Why is that pretty rare in my observations?  He also talks about God' greatness and how important is to remember that especially in hard times.

We had a conference with President this last week.  That was super cool!

I love you all and am beyond grateful for your patience in raising me and continuing to support me. Thanks for all you do for me.   I pray for you all every day.

Love,

Elder Donaldson

Still love soda. :)