MY LIFE IS A GIFT, MY LIFE HAS A PLAN

Wellllllllllllll today I come with news. Today there were transfers aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I AM STILL A SAN LUCHADORRRRRRRRR which is super cool but to be honest like a HUGE task, but I AM PUMPED. Also I come with news that CHUCK (Elder Chauque) is still my comp which is super cool because we are gonna rock the worlds of the people here and preach the gospel with all we have until Chuck dies (figuratively- he finishes his mission on the 29th of November which will make me a MURDERER).

so yeah. Life is pretty cool. And yes, the subject of my email is totally a pirmary song. Chuck found this CD in his stuff witha  bajillion songs and song primary classics popped out so we have been pumpin them DAY and NIGHT (or whenever it is convenient in our missionary schedule).

THIS HAS BEEN A WEEK OF EVENTS. Let me share some with you:

- Elder Duncan totally got a package from his fam with powdered mashed potatoes (4 cheese flavor) and we ate them and it was DELICIOUS. Said package also came with BEEF JERKY and GARDETTOS which was prob the coolest thing ever

- While we were eating the gringo food from Elder Duncan´s family, this mariachi band totally came and was playing for this birthday party on the floor above us and we got to listen to mariachi music while we ate delicious food

- There is this store in the city with a whooooole bunch of gringo stuff and I found some cool items (that I did not buy- BUDGETING LIKE A WINNER) including but not limited: Tang, Del Monte cans of corn (if you have ever been to the Pratt Family garage you can see why this means so much to me), and nutella

- this one day here is was super cold and rained a lot and then it stopped raining because the clouds just came right to us and we lived our lives in the middle of the clouds. so yeah, I guess you could say we are at a high altitude.

- So here in colombia they have crazy good bus systems to transport you from one part of a city to another or all the way to other Departments (like states). The inter city buses are usually a bit smaller (obviously) and most of the time you are standing on the bus. HERES THE CATCH so i´m like not even that tall but I´m like so tall and most of the time I have to slouch like crazy or just bend my neck in a weird way or something like that. I DISCOVERED A CURE and it is called the Emergency Exit. When I stand in the emergency exit part, it is a bit taller and I fit. YAY!!!

- This crazy lady in the branch who always follows us missionaries around and tries to like touch us and stuff super creepily totally brought a drunk guy to church. Like he was super drunk and stayed all 3 hours. COLOMBIAAAA

- Chuck has a CD of music he got from a member in this one area here in Bogotá called Granada and we were listening the CD the other day and I heard a version of I´ll Go Where You Want Me To Go that I recognized and then I paid closer attention and it was totally the version of my cousin Mike Larsen who served in this mission. Then another elder told me that he had heard that version from other elders. MIKE YOU ARE TOTALLY FAMOUS!!!

- So I learned the other day from Elder Duncan that his mom reads my mission blog so I jsut wanted to throw a special shout out to ELDER DUNCANS MOM. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

CRAZY EXPERIENCE THIS WEEK so remember that investigator who was living with her BF and then left him but was with another and it was all crazy and mixed up? YEAH so we have been working like crazy trying to help her out and MAN we had a crazy appointment this week and it was sooooooo strong and the Spirit was like super strong and we invited her to be baptized and she accepted but like was scared a bit because its hard to give up our favorite sins. My comp and I both felt super strongly that she needed a baptismal date to go with it right away and we had been praying and working to find the right date and we extended it and she was like "oh I don´t know I don´t know" and we said "how about we say a prayer right now and ask God if thats the right day?" and she agreed, said an amazingly humble and beautiful prayer, and then waited like 15 seconds after in silence and just said "Okay, but you guys have to help me!" IT WAS SO AWESOME WE WERE SO PUMPED IT WAS OUT OF CONTROL. We are going to be working with all we have to take some photos in white on November 9th! Pray for Paola!

So this week I was thinking and totally had a revelation (or something like that). PROVERB TIME: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Deep stuff right? Yeah so I had heard that phrase a long time ago but I was like thinking about it this week for some reason that I don´t remember right now, but that totally represents missionary work. Let´s be frank, we are all preeeeetty blind in the terms of God´s plans for us. Yeah, we have a skeleton and the basics, but we don´t know the specifics adn we know that we fall short daily to achieve that plan. Here´s the catch: There are a whoooole lot of people out there who don´t even know the skeleton of the basics. That´s what we (and I say we because we are all missionaries) should do. Let´s be the guides for our friends or family who maybe don´t have the basics or the skeleton that we have. We may not ber perfect or we may not be able to see everything, but let´s do what we can to guide those who have less than us to a level a bit better. Trust me, the missionaries aren´t perfect, but we are just taking the light we have gotten and trying to share it a bit. Let´s all do the same and join in the fight.

Okay so this letter has been long an you are all probs tired of me so I´ll end it. I miss you and I love you all!!!!!!

Elmer Praff

THE NEXT EDITION OF: the life and times of elder pratt

HOWDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

okay well I hope life is GREAT for everyone. Life is cool as a missionary and a bit stressful but also cool! This week we have been a bit stressed with our investigators because it turns out that EVERYONE IN SAN LUIS (okay like 76 percent) IS LIVING IN OPEN UNION (i totally forget how you say it in english, that one thing where they live together but they are too sissy to get married) AND/OR TOTALLY DROPPING THE BALL WITH THE LAW OF CHASTITY but its like okay. its part of the job. This week we had some appointments that were very straight forward with some of our people that have craaaaaaazy excellent potential to be stellar members and leaders in the church (whether they are investigators or members who are less-active or inactive) and can totally get so many blessings in their lives but are throwing it away because they can´t make firm decisions in their lives. LEARN HOW TO MAKE FIRM DECISIONS, PEOPLE. I promise with all my heart that you will find blessings in your life when you learn how to make a firm decision (obviously searching God´s help) and STICK TO IT. Seriously, yo. I´m not lying. 

But anyway, 

FUN FACTS FROM MY WEEK:

- I totally learned how to play violin kinda not really. I started playing a bit and it was really fun but super hard, I think if I throw my whole life away for awhile I can actually get maybe goodish and make a really mediocre life out of it. Yeahhhhhhhh probs not.

- We were teaching a fam and we asked them if they remembered any of the Ten Commandments. This 10 year-old kid piped up and goes, "Ooooo Oooo I know! Thou shalt not rob in vain." It was sooooooooooooooooooo funny. (For all of you that was probably just like a tiny bit funny, but as a missionary, we live on jokes like these. They carry us in our hard times. It´s like when you have your nerd thing in your life and there are things that are so funny for you but nobody understands.)

- WE HAD ANOTHER SUPER P-DAY (when a bajillion of us missionaries get together and play sports all morning and then have a conference with president and they are WONDERFUL)

- Colombia cualified for the World Cup this week!!! (bad news: fast and testimony meeting was full of people testifying of the Colombian team and all this apostasy like that. BUMMER)

Soooooooooo my comp and I were having this appointment with a lady the other day that turned her life around, came back to church, was being awesome, and then started to turn back to some old vices of hers. It is a huuuuuuge bummer for us because she is really cool and a super good example in her family but right now is totally dropping the ball. So. We decided to talk a bit about a story from the Bible with her. Remember that one time that God sent angels to take out the city of Sodom and Gummorah (totally forget how to spell that in English) and Lot and his family peaced out running? Remember what commandment they got when leaving? DON´T LOOK BACK. Remember what Lot´s wife did? She LOOKED BACK. Remember what happened to her? yeahhhhhhh. SO. Let´s learn a lesson. When we turn from sin, when we decide to really makea  change in our lives for the better, let´s do the right thing and NOT LOOK BACK. We all know how hard it is to turn down an old temptation when it comes our way again. So instead of making things hard, let´s just avoid the temptation and NOT LOOK BACK and KEEP MOVING FORWARD (props to all of you who recognize that movie reference). That is my invitation of the week. Turn from the things that are holding you back, even if it´s just one thing at a time, and don´t look back. How does that sound, alright? It´s the real deal guys, just put forth a little more effort and stuff gets a lot better.

Welllllllllllll I gotta go. But I LOVE YOU ALLLL and I hope your lives are just dandy right now. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK :)

FROMMMMMmmmmmmmm

Elder Prattttttttttttttttttt

PS the movie reference was from Meeting the Robinsons

PPS I totally passed my 8 month mark this past week. A third of the mission has passed me by. WOahhhhhhhhh it goes fast these days.

CONFERENCE WEEK IS SO COOL ALWAYS

BUT WHILE YOU ARE A MISSIONARY IT IS LIKE OUT OF CONTROL COOL like woah

but really.

super cool.

BUuuuuuuuuuuuut this has been a super exciting week. HIGHLIGHTS:

- After taking a small break from Rubix cubes for a time, I picked it up again today and I practiced- and I mean PRACTICED- and I achieved a new record. 63 seconds. and yes I will be studying humility later because I AM RIDICULOUSLY PRIDEFUL OF WHAT I DID. Next step: Break a minute.

- The computer where I am at right now is really great and that is a miracle!

- Elder Chauque, my beloved comp who doesn´t speak hardly English but likes to surprise me with stuff he knows, this week was getting off a bus but I was still sitting down and he yelled, "Pratt! Let´s go!" Also, in another ocassion in a totally perfect situation and with perfect usage, he called someone a "lady killer" and I just about shed a tear laughing.

- I met some members in Bogotá this weekend and we were chatting and he asked where I was from anad I said California. He asked what part. I said close to Los Ángeles. What city. Well, like an hour south, along the coast. What beach. Huntington. "Oh that´s a really pretty beach, huh?" I was like ummmm yeah thanks totally so how on earth do you know and he says well I was there 2 weeks ago I should know. Ha. Ha. Haha. Well. that was a funny experience. 

LIFE ADVICE: 

- If someone offers you eat some cow intestine in a mixture and it might not be totally cooked, lie. Say you are allergic. Say you can´t. Think of what you answer will be now so when the situation comes, you are ready. DO NOT EAT IT AT ALL COSTS. When you do choose to eat it and regret it the next day, remember me. Remember this moment. Remember my name. elder ALEX WILCKEN PRATT. YEah, my middle name is wilcken. You will especially remember that part cause it seems super random. BUT whatever you do DON´T EAT IT.

IF I had time to say all of my thoughts of the conference, I would use it. But. Instead, I will name names and you will have to look up the talks and listen to them for yourselves and then ACT ON WHAT YOU HEAR AND LEARN. Ifthe named people gave more than one talk, READ THEM ALL please :) (listed in no particular order)

- Dieter F. Uchtdorf (powerhouse this guy), Neil L. Andersen (Priesthood is a crazy cool thing and guys don´t let it get to your heads cause that´s like so so so so bad and annoying it´s crazy), Robert D. Hales (follow the counsel, be blessed. Pretty simple), Ulisses Soares, D. Todd Christofferson, Arnulfo Valenzula, L. Tom Perry, Henry B. Eyring, Richard J. Maynes, David A. Bednar ("I invite you to consider your ways, and repent." BOOM), David M. McConkie, ummm who else oh and I forgot one TOMMY THE HEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (that´s Thomas S. Monson, Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, ladies and gents)

I love you all. I hope you are all doing great. I miss you and I pray for you. Keep the prayers coming to San Lucho. We need them, man. PEACE OUT MY HOMIEzzzzzzzz

ELDER Alex Wilcken PRATT