Homeward bound missionaries at the Cali, Colombia airport on their last day in country
A year ago Sam, along with many other North American missionaries were evacuated from the Cali, Colombia mission due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
They returned home and were reassigned state side while their South American and Latin American counterparts stayed there and manned the mission through the difficult conditions of quarantine and Covid restrictions since many of them couldn’t return to their countries. Sam is now back and is so happy to be in Colombia. This was his email for the week:
What is up friends and family!!! I am alive and not dead and Colombia is amazing! This last almost two weeks here has been so sweet! My new comp is named Elder Benavides and he speaks, no joke the fastest Spanish I’ve ever heard. He’s from the Amazon and he’s such a dope guy. We’re pretty much best bros and we’ve been seeing a lot of success in our area. Its actually pretty wild, as of right now there’s 11 Americans in the whole mission and only 80 missionaries total so pretty much everyone is opening areas (including us). The funny thing is that 10 of the 11 Americans go home in 4 months so from July to December I’ll be the “old man gringo” of the mission 😎. Our house is brand new (brand new missionary house, not a brand new house sadly) as well because of the new area and it’s been a little tuff because we still don’t have gas for cooking and I’m still getting used to the whole cold water out of a PVC pipe for a shower thing. Also midgets made our house because all the doors are 5′ 6′ no joke. The hope is that I’ll slam my head hard enough that I miraculously pick up a Colombian accent so everyone understands me better, I’ll keep you posted on how that goes. But yeah, honestly life is so good here! The work is amazing and it’s been cool for me to see that no matter where you go, missionary work is missionary work and the gospels blesses lives everywhere, despite language, culture or country. Oh and also I really miss my Toyota Corolla that I got to drive, that thing was the best. Anyways I love you all! Have a baller week!Â
I am so happy he is happy. He always has such a positive attitude. I also love that companionship have phones now. He used to have to call from internet cafes and now he can call from his apartment. He gave us a tour last week of his apartment and his street. It was pretty great and really nice to be able to envision what his life is like there.
Sam’s new shower that delivers fresh cold water for his showers
Sam’s new apartment in Cali (on the left). The power lines are so close the the buildings he can reach them from his balcony
Sam’s new area (red marker)
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