Merry Christmas from Colombia-Puppet Pics and AUDIO files!

I'm WAY EXCITED TO SEE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!
 I was thinking the 25th around 10 or 11 AM Colombian time. Any problems?
Let me know and we'll change it. But I can't call before hand so it's got
to be set today.

The "Muppets" were a HUGE hit with the zone conference. Very funny but we
broke about a thousand rules making it so we didn't win haha. ;) He did not specify the rules they broke making them. Maybe they spent too long on them. And judging by how AWESOME they are....I'm wondering if they googled a how to video or something. I did send him some written instructions, but his puppets are better than mine are so...? I'm just super amazed!!!! NO VIDEO though! :(

The district is very fun but at times disobedient. I'm learning to relax and accept the agency of others while keeping mine in line. It's hard to remember to do but I'm doing very well and having a  lot of fun. Finally. He's been struggling for a while with this. It's good to hear him relax some.

My comp and I have been getting along very well lately and we're all like best friends in the district. It's going to be sad to leave when it happens.

I asked him about his plans when he gets home next August. My plan right now is to get home and WORK! Because I have no money saved up nor a plan of where or what to study. So i'm thinking about working until I have enough money to GO to college and then I'll try to figure where and what. 

I love you and I'll talk more about teaching during our call! Ha! I read other Elder's blogs and they are all about their teaching and contacting and spiritual experiences. I think it's great to hear that Justin is having fun too. But I would like to hear SOME teaching experiences! ;)

Let me know now when you want to Skype! Or google hangout! ;)

Love you!

Merry Christmas!

Audio link of Justin playing his arrangement of Silent Night.

Audio Link of Justin talking... Just for fun. Here! 

NOW for THE AMAZING PUPPETS THEY MADE!!!

Elder Rudolf made by Elder Skinner

Elder Romero made Elder Dende

Elder Cortes made Elder Goku who is probably my favorite! haha

And Elder Munar made Elder Niche. (or Elder Marley part 2)

Elder Charlie made by mom and sent to Colombia.

The Classic Elder Marley (made by them all) still loved above all the rest. 

               

They sewed everything by hand!

The aftermath!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Our OWN Apartment!

Heyyyyyyy!!!! Sup fam?!?!??!

We made our puppets today! You'll get to see the video next week of the
performance. It's going to be suuuper funny. And it has to be in English
for the latins to practice. So you'll understand it. MAybe haha ;) We had
some fun but we did it by hand because nobody has a sewing machine. So it
took all day. hence the late letter ;) Had some parts where we laughed
pretty dang hard.

WE MOVED INTO OUR NEW HOUSE!!!!!! I'm sooooo happy cause now we plan and
study!!!!!! It's a nice house too. Very new. But VERY hot. We don't really
have any sort of air from the outside. So it's been pretty nuts! But hey.
No mosquitos. No other elders ;) Life is good!

We didn't do much teaching this week but we had a noche de hogar (FHE) with
the pensionista last night which was pretty cool. Her husband was kind of
annoyed because he doesn't love a lot of people coming to the house but he
begged our pardon for being so hard to read and stubborn. It all turned out
very well.

Short letter, I know. But we talk the 24th or 25th. I'll let you know what
my comp thinks and when we'll do it :) SUPER EXCITED!!!

Love you mom!!!

Elder J Skinney

December!

Service project

I´m glad you like Elder Marley. He's been used to scare just about everyone in the house. I still have the image of him burned into my head as we walked into our house and found him waiting in the dark door way with Charlie hanging by the neck from a jump rope haha... But hey. We'll some other ones ;)

Things have been even worse on the time wasting side of the coin. Elder Cortes is SUPER funny and cool so we are always talking WAY too much. He also has this little projector and a DVD player so they've watched a couple of missionary movies. I watched one called God's Army (which I totally shouldn't have done) and it was actually pretty inspiring and we all went to bed feeling awesome and with ganas de trabajar (desire to work). But the next morning we all went right back into the routine. Everyone sleeping in or sleeping trying to do exercise. That second one is me. I'll do like 20 push-ups and then rest for a second and then wake up five minutes later.

I have been SO tired. It's not even funny. I can't even sit still for too long or I just fall asleep. The mornings are just brutal. I don't think i'm getting the right kind of sleep or I'm being woken up in a sleep stage that's not good to be woken up in.

I talked to the mission medic or area doctor, Elder Sheffield, and he said that I'm physically tired (obviously) but due to stress and getting sick recently, also mentally and psychologically exhausted. He really helped when he asked me about stress and helped me to re-realize that everything is going to be okay.

As far as teaching goes, our pensionista's husband is getting excited about baptism and we've finally established a good relationship with him. He's pretty hard to read so it took a good 6 weeks to break through the shell. But he's getting excited and is coming to church so that's pretty sweet. Keep praying for him!

Well, I'm hoping you're all doing swell.

Love you mom!!!

Meet Elder Marley

HEY!!!! Glad to hear about Thanksgiving and all the goodness going on.

Super happy to hear about Chris slowly getting better. Keep going Johnsons!!

This week was a little better. Elder Rebolledo left this morning and guess
who shows up in his place. ELDER CORTES!!! My companion from Pasto! He was
also companions with Elder Romero as my zone leaders in San Fernando. So
that was pretty cool. He got hear this morning and it was all good and fun.
HE has a mild tazer and convinced me in to letting him taze me in the arm.
It was pretty funny! I know you are just shaking your head in disapproval
but hey. I'm still an idiot 🙌

I enjoyed the letter from Sister Young. She's right about everything. In
sort of a crazy way but she's right haha. ;) Our sister missionary here in Oklahoma wrote to him. 

Dairon and Karen are going well but super slow. We've been working with a
less active returned missionary to help him get married and get his GF
baptized. So that's something that's pretty cool.

Not much else to say. We'll see some more news this week! Hopefully good
news.

Love you mom!

Short letter but he sends longer audio files. They have parts about people in the mission and their missionary progress, so I can't really post them. But he told us that they love Elder Charlie, the puppet we sent to him. They are going to make three other puppets (they've made one already) and use them for their part in the Christmas program. (Don't worry, I think it's at a ward party or mission party or something. NOT church. haha) All the missionaries have to do something and it HAS to be in English, which J says will be pretty challenging for his Latin companions who speak either NONE of very little. 

Their puppet is Elder Marley and J says he's super scary looking. He told us a story about waking up super early one morning to knocking on the front door. Justin, in his half asleep state, panicked, thinking it was the mission president who has been going around and just showing up at apartments at random times to see how the missionaries are behaving. Justin's panic (even though they weren't doing anything wrong...) led him to turn over to his clock and be terrified by Elder Marley right in his face propped up on a broomstick. He said he sort of freaked out, much to the delight of his fellow missionaries in the apartment. 

 See Elder Marley below.

Elder Skinner and Elder Charlie

  

Sugar Cane!

This is Elder Marley (Named after Bob Marley). They made this on their own out of one of those polyester shopping bags. The hair is made with an old sock, and his arms are stuffed with the rest of the old sock. I'm just so impressed! I love it. 

I guess the two puppet elders are often kidnapped and held hostage by the two companionships. 

Hopefully some missionary work is getting done down there too! PS He did say they did all this on a P-Day! I was supposed to make sure I said that. ;)

November

Suuuuuuuup family!!!!

Spiritual experiences...Because we are in such a small branch, I've been able to bless and pass the sacrament for the first time in my mission. That's been very cool. It made
me realize that I took that privilege for granted when I was younger and
wish I could do it again. As I passed, I felt a snes of unity with everyone
there. Because we are all in the same need of the Atonement. Whehter you're
the missionary passing or the less active member who hasn't come in 20
years. That was spiritual.

I've been moderately homesick but nothing extreme. I'm the only elder in
the house that has more than three months of the mission to go. These guys
are all "dying" as they call it. So they're all talking about their
girlfriends and families and (because of me) how they are going to watch
all of the Star Wars movies. I got them hooked on what i've told them but
they've never seen it. My guess is that they'll hate the originals and love
the prequals. Because latins don't care for classics or storyline as they
do action and cheesy drama. cough cough fastandfurious cough!

I would love something printed from the 3D printer. Star Trek Badge, or
whatever. i gave my other one away. Really just anything is fine with me.
I'm just happy you guys love me enough to send me anyhting haha ;) MY shoes
will probably hold up for another 2 or three months without getting any
super bad damage but around 4 or 5 before the ginat hole is there. So send
them when you feel it necessary. ;)

Love you mom!! Pray hard for us so that we can move into our new house and
be away from the other Elders.

Love
Elder Skinner and Elder Charlie

Hey! from Elder Charlie and Justin

HEyyyyyyyyyyy So I didn't write yesterday because it was a holiday (almost
every holiday is on a monday and I'm not joking either) so every internet
excpet one was closed. We finally find it about a half hour before we have
to start teaching and then (drumroll please) MYLDSMAIL WAS NOT WORKING!!!!!
🙌

So President gave us some time today. I really like the puppets Ian did for his Eagle project and the comments although it was super gross with all of the puns hahaha. Thanks
for that.

I got the package and Charlie has been a HUGE hit. (We sent him Charlie the puppet.)

We have been having a  lot of fun with him but I have to be careful how long I let some of the
other elders use him because he starts to say bad words after a while haha!
😒 Reeses peices are heaven. Dad said they were invented for ET and I want
to know if that's true.

I about cried eating nutella and Bananas 'cause it was so good.

So yeah! Last week was kind of lame when not counting the package part. We
live in a house of four and we are all pretty good friends so studying has
been super lame (that is, IF we studied) and the whole schedule is messed
up because of it.
So that's been really annoying. I've been kind of rude about it to the
other elders too. There is a need of change...

Dairon and Karen are doing super well and progressing slowly but surely.
Now Dairon is coming to young men activities to teach Parkour. The young
men love it. 

In other news, I'm well! I might give Charlie's shirt to Dairon and Karen's
son, Matias, so he can come to church in  a white shirt. I'll just find a Baby Colombian jersey. So funny. :)

Love you, mom! You're the greatest. Love getting your letters.

Love
Elder Charlie (and Justin)

I'm about to smash that cake into the birthday boy's face. 

The Skinner family Gang Sign

BETTER!!

I'm feeling perfect now. They gave me un poco de pastas (a ton of pills)
and now I'm feeling great and not pooping once and hour.

So we have been pretty busy and swamped this week. At least it feels like
it. D and K are going great and I'm super happy for them. I'm
super worried that they won't be able to get married.  But they are receiving
everything super well.

We sent off an elder whose mission call was too Barranquilla Colombia, but
due to an injury came to this mission to heal in Cerrito. He is incredible
and super hard working. But he went to the offices in Cali on Tuesday (the
first day that I was able to walk around normally) and forgot his suit
jacket. So we had to catch the next bus to Cali and take it to him. When we
got to the office, his family was there seeing him off and he challenged
them all to be baptized (he and his cousin are the only members). It was
super powerful and his mom surprised him by telling him that she had been
taking the missionary lessons and going to church and was totally ready for
baptism and she wanted him to do it that very same day. So he was the
happiest man ever. This huge black guy just bawling of happiness. Super
cool to see. His name is Elder Solis and is gong to be a stud in his
mission.

Things with the comp are good. He's pretty cool. We found a store that
sells Star Wars and Superhero stuff. Vamos a Comprar bobadas!!! But we
really need to move. It's so hard to keep focused and stick with the schedule when you have two other crazy elders who are living with you. We
have the house all ready to go but we have to wait for a month to move in.
STUPID!!!!


It's been a super uneventful week so I've got nothing to tell you... Next
week will be better. Love you mom!

Elder Skinner

OH! Another thing.
They officially banned soccer in the mission. And Basketball. Due to over
200 injuries in the area. So the Latinos are TICKED. We'll see a LOT of
breaking that rule haha..

SICK!!!

Don´t feel too bad about not writing. It gave me some time to download all
of the recordings you guys sent me :) I loved the recordings. And weirdly
enough, I wasn't the slightest bit sad about not being there. It just made
me feel like I was already there and really excited to go there when I´m
back.

So This week has been pretty uneventful in teaching because we were stuck
in the house for most of the week. But I´ll talk about that in a minute
haha. D and K might have some problems getting married. They are
both willing to do it but it´s some legal thing they have a problem with.
So we´ll have to wait... But D is really changing. He´s praying now
even though he´s never done that before in his life. He´s noticing really
good things happening in his life and likes what he is learning. He really
likes parkour and wants to start teaching the young men in the branch. I´m
suuuuuuper happy about that. :)

So being in the house...  Wednesday, Elder Romero got sick with a migraine
and so we couldn't teach all day. We were going good after that until
Saturday when during lunch, I started to feel a fever coming on and then
very unexpectedly crapped my pants. and yes i´m serious. HA! I didn't edit here!

It was just too horrible and funny not to leave in for everyone to read.

In Daniel's mission (Ecuador) they call that a Brown Out. POOR JUSTIN!

 But somehow we made it out of the house with out anyone knowing and took a 

taxi to the
house where we called Sister Pricoli who told me to rest and drink water.
But my fever shot up around 8:00 and she unexpectedly told us to come to
the hospital in Cali. So we get there at around nine and they hook me up to
an IV or whatever it´s called and I was there until 4:30 AM. They diagnosed
me with an infection in my intestines and I had to stay all of Sunday in
the offices. We got back to the house at around 11 this morning and my
fever is gone but I have the WORST diarrhea ever and have gone about 11
times today. I have medicine and a list of foods I can eat so i´ll get over
it but seriously. It´s been rough haha ;) And I´m not allowed to leave the
house to teach until Wednesday or until I feel better. So we´ll see how this
week goes. My comp has been a champ at taking care of me so I´m grateful
for that. I looked and smelled like a hobo by the time we got home cause I
hadn't showered or shaved. I looked EXACTLY like Ian did for Halloween but
I didn´t have a barbie haha.
Ian's Halloween Costume-Mental Patient

Love you guys! You´re my favorites!

Love
Elder Skinner

27 New Investigators in New Area

I'm so ashamed to say, I forgot to write to Justin on Monday. I can't believe it! I'm a terrible mother. I usually write to him on Sunday, but didn't get to it...Late church will be my excuse. I even had several reminders on Monday, but not one put the thought into my head to write to him. So...that will probably explain the reason this letter is so short. My punishment. haha. -Mom (Dad did write and we did sent him a TON of audio files from our vacation so there is that.)

“Elder Munar y Yo”

“My comp, Elder Romero”

I´ll just assume that you were too busy and forgot haha ;)  

(True statement, but no excuse! I will repent.)

I'm having a great time here in Cerrito. My Comp is super rad and we've
been having a blast. 

Cerrito is SUPER small compared to pretty much
everywhere else I've been. Centro or downtown is like a normal street in
Cali. With a bunch of super weird stores but hey! I've got my eyes a SWEET
Star Wars shirt. Totally illegally made just like everything else that has
name brand stuff on it.

We are in a small branch of about 63 members who come to church. We go to a
casa capilla house chapel which is just a house that the church rents to have the
meetings in. 

WE FOUND 26 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! Two of them being named D
and K. They're a couple with a three month old baby and they are AMAZING.
Super shy but they are going so strong. D read up until 1Nephi 4 just
because he liked what he was reading. Which is awesome because He hates
reading haha. They're on date to be baptized on the 21 of November, but have
to get married first. Pray for them so they can make it there!!! 

In Dad's even shorter letter he wrote that they haven't found a house yet so they are living in a tiny place meant

for two with a trio of missionaries. (That's five all together!)

Love you guys!

Elder Skinner

Transfers-Opening up a New Area!

Sounds like every one is having fun!!! I miss you too but I´m also glad I'm in the mission.

First things first. TRANSFERS CAME IN!!! I'm now going to be opening an
area (yikes!) with Elder Romero from Paraguay! We'll be in a small village
on the outskirts of Palmira! That's not part of Cali but it's close. Also a
lot hotter. So we'll be starting from scratch on almost everything.
Including finding a house! So in the mean time we have to live with three
other missionaries and I'm kind of annoyed. But Elder Romero is SUPER
cool and was my zone leader in Limonar. So we are way excited to start. And
guess who came to replace me in Morichal? My old companion from Morichal. Elder Ore
didn't want me to leave.

But yeah! The week was not too hot up until the interviews. I was still
stuck with the headache until Wednesday morning which was followed by a
fever that lasted from Wednesday to Thursday. But I got some very well
needed rest while I got over it. 

(Last week, I didn't post it...he had what he said was a Migraine. The first on the mission.

He's usually out for the day puking and in the dark. But this one was just a huge headache 

that hurt to move his head. I think it might sound like the flu if it ended in a fever.)

 And then came the interviews! President Pricoli is incredible. I sat down
and just explained just about everything I've been telling you guys for the
past six months being with hard comps and he pulled out 2Nephi 2:1-2. 

1 And now, Jacob, I speak unto you: Thou art my firstborn
 in the days of my tribulation in the wilderness. And behold, in thy 
childhood thou hast suffered afflictions and much sorrow, because of the
 rudeness of thy brethren. 

 2 Nevertheless, Jacob, my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.

He explained that my brothers, the missionaries, have been causing a lot of
grief in my mission. But that there will be something better for me. My
afflictions will be consecrated for my benefit. He looked me in the eyes
and said, "I don't know why you have to go through these things. but the
promise Lehi made to Jacob stands for you too. I know you haven't done
anything wrong. Los tontos son *ellos* (they are the idiots here or the
stupid ones are them)." 

I'm so thankful that Justin finds his mission president's council so comforting and helpful. 

I would just want him to FIX it! haha 

So with that little boost of encouragement, it helped
me love my companion until the second we got to the bus station. And now I'm
going to be with someone who works hard and needs me as much as I need him.
So the afflictions are paying off. 

I know this is going to be super hard opening an area but I'm ready to face what comes.

I love you guys! I wish I had remembered to make a recording for the entire
extended family... :( But tell them all I love them.

He loves you.

Buy me a big sucker from Disneyland. ;)

Love,

Elder Sexy Sapo Skinner

On a General Conference High

So conference was only the greatest thing that has ever happened in the history of the entire universe. President Uchtdorf's talk Saturday morning was meant for me. Because he emphasized that we don't have to be outstanding in everything we do. He and you really helped me realize that I'm being too hard on myself and a I really need to take a step back and start looking at the things I do right. I get up on time. I DO study and do everything I should do during those given hours. And I've been more patient (thanks to conference). My comp has been insulting me every time I open my mouth (almost literally every time) and he's joking but it's super annoying. But thanks to conference and the Spirit, I've been able to take it without getting as angry. This is only since Saturday so I had a good week of losing my temper haha.

And wow. Elder Holland's talk was probably the most spiritual one. All of the gringos were in the clerk's office watching in English and we were all DEAD SILENT. We were all so thankful for our moms but sad we couldn't give them hugs right then and there ;) I love you mom! You are the greatest. And I inherit being too hard on myself from YOU because YOU are too hard on YOURSELF. You're a stellar mother and you shouldn't ever think you're
anything less than that.

Something funny that happened this week... It rained like CRAZY one if the mornings this week and because of our stupid patio and the drain that is two inches above the ground, we woke up to a wonderful ankle deep flood. Only in the patio but i remember being kind of groggy and walking to get some clothes hanging up and almost killing myself trying not to fall into the water I almost stepped in. That woke me up!! So that was funny.

I was inspired this week by conference obviously and the fact that we have three new Apostles. That was pretty cool thing to witness. I was inspired by a class in our district meeting that was about our faith in action as missionaries. It was cool.

I love you guys!!! Especially my mom!

Elder Skinner

Yum. Eating Salad.

 Warning: Super White guy dancing!

“I lost the game during a family home evening and had to dance the Pato as punishment.”

“Our swimming pool”

Preach My Gospel

Elder Uceda was incredible. All of the questions I've ever had about being a successful  missionary were answered. Preach My Gospel! That's the answer to everything! A preach my gospel missionary is one that will have success with his investigators. I've been taking it totally for granted. ElderUceda told us that every single one of the Apostales, including the first presidency, read, corrected and approved it and so it has EVERYTHING we need to be stellar missionaries. I've been applying that in my studies this week and it's made a huge difference. THANK YOU ELDER UCEDA!!!

There's this really cool site that I found when President gave me permission to print guitar music. It's called mormonguitar.com. The guy is VERY good at the guitar and he has albums. I figured you guys would like that for a Sabbath day thing. I think it's more interesting than just normal hymns. Check it out! And if you can, buy it with my money and
dropbox it to me!

My comp is still pretty funny. I've noticed something though. Everyone thinks and says he's a really hard worker. But really, HE's a SMART worker (Maybe not Hard). He knows HOW to work really well so he's got a lot of baptisms and stuff like that.  I'm learning a lot from
him! Things I need to do better and things that I shouldn't ever do. haha.
We've been getting along pretty well.

What else? It's hot. Still. There have been two shootings in our neighborhood. Other than that, everything is still the same. I love how he just glosses over the TWO SHOOTINGS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD! 

Love you guys so much! You're the best family in the world!!

Elder Skinner

ONE MORE THING!!!! I saw one of our converts from Limonar and she has a
calling as the young women's secretary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pretty nuts right?! Anyways, love you!

Things are looking up! :)

Sup family!!!!
First things first. Mom your haircut looks good ;) Glad to see he knows what's "first" and important! haha

This week was pretty good. We found a ton of new people and some of them are looking pretty dang good. It's been fun to have a new companion because Elder Ore is super funny and chill. It's been fun to get to know him. He's the senior companion so I guess they demoted me. haha ;) It's been fun.

I've been trying harder to be more obedient and that's helped me a lot. I know you all thought that I was obedient to begin with but one of the reasons I was complaining about the disobedience is because I was slowly starting to fall into it. But Now, I'm doing a lot better. My comp is cool but this morning he slept until 9. All throughout study I felt good that I was at least making an honest effort. That's one blessing in and of itself.

This week Elder Uceda from the 70 is coming to the mission and is going to blow our minds. With all the preperation and warnings they are giving us though, you'd think President Monson himself was coming. They want us to be there an hour early or they're not paying us back for our transport. haha. I'm pretty excited. I hope he gives me some advice to help me get lost in this work.

The investigator with the daughters did not get baptized due to stake onference yesterday. But because she didn't come yesterday to stake conference she can't be baptized...yet.

Well, short lame letter. But I got to write my little bros for once haha ;)

Love you mom! You're the greatest!

Elder Skinner

Sapo Skinner-The Red Toad

Well hello everyone!!! I'm so relieved that it's PDAY!!! It's been a long week.

Transfers came in and Elder Y se fue!!! He went to another zone and another elder from Peru showed up. Elder O. Anyways, it's been a weird change because it happened so fast.
Elder O is known for baptizing a TON. But he's also known for being really relaxed about the rules. But he came here this morning and right of the bat was like, "okay, we're going to find 14 people this week and baptize them all in three weeks." I really need to learn how to finish the work that I start and it looks like I got the guy who's going to help me learn how to do it. ;)

We played soccer today with the zone and I'm an IDIOT and forgot sunscreen. I'm SUPER sunburned on my arms and face and neck. It kills and and it's going to be hard to sleep tonight haha... 

But some prayers were answered! We've all been pretty mad about the whole Sapo Skinner thing right? (That's what some of the elders were calling him for telling on a few who broke some rules. Or should I say, for being obedient. Sapo means Toad which is equivalent for a Rat in American lingo.) Well, I was feeling basically alone in the situation until today when my zone leader, Elder Green (whose little brother is serving in Jacob's mission!!!), pulled me aside and told me that they trust me a TON. HE told me that they talked to the AP's and President and they all trust me too. HE said that if anyone starts to harass me about this again, I should just tell the zone leaders and they'll  talk to them. So now I know that President, the AP's and the zone leaders are ready to back me up whenever I need it. :)

We almost had a baptism this Saturday out of nowhere. Some investigator we have wants to be baptized! If she didn't have a smoking problem, she and her three daughters would have
been baptized on Saturday. She's pretty cool. She needs some praying to get over smoking. So anything you guys can do will help!!!

I'm excited for this transfer! I'm going to try harder to be a LOT better because I've been pretty bitter this entire week and that has caused me to feel pretty darn homesick. But I'll be better this week. 

LOVE YOU MOM!!!! and everyone else, I'm sure.

Elder Skinner👽

Meet the Mormons Burning Ties?

Hey ya'll!!! Isn't that how they talk in Oklahoma?

This week was a lot better. Our baptism fell through but my comp and I had had some cool spiritual insight together during lessons. We both received promptings at the same time to give one investigator a blessing for an accident he had. Super cool.

We are having a hard time finding investigators again and only had like three lessons since Thursday but we are taking it well and trying our best to be happy.

We had a stake activity on Saturday in which we showed "Meet the Mormons." We invited investigators throughout the week and when were about a half an hour to show time and only saw a few members, all of the missionaries in the zone went and swept the streets looking for people to invite. We split up and I was with Elder Mariscol who's from California and is brand new in the mission. He spoke Spanish before though so he's got that down. Well, we
went through the street talking to everyone like these super excited weirdos who were WAY too excited about a free movie but we had success! After we had a very nice family get excited and come to the chapel, Elder M started to tear it up! He was killing it. HE would talk to people before I would and so it was pretty crazy. We did end up getting a lot more people to come. It's cool to contact in divisions cause you  aren't in the comfort bubble that you and your normal companion have when you're together. 
(He's getting some flack for telling on some missionaries for breaking rules. He says he's hated by the other elders now and so he's been dealing with a lot. I haven't shared much of it on the blog and I'm cutting out some of it here, but wanted to explain cuz I'm leaving in the part where he talks about how he's learning.)
It's lame but hey. I see blessings already. My comp also thinks I did the wrong thing  so that leaves me with no one to vent to except you guys and God. My personal prayers have been amazing lately and so that's probably the greatest blessing that's come out of this. I've been feeling impressed that, although it seems like I'm being punished for being obedient right now, there are great blessings waiting.  The mission presidetne hasn't even
said a word to me about this. But to be fair, I haven't said anything to him directly about this. I will today so we'll see how the support goes after that. (Mama Bear wants to visit Colombia! haha. But I'm impressed with his continued efforts and growth! It has to be hard being persecuted by your own group of people for doing what you are supposed to be doing...)
Love you guys! 
Love

Elder Jenky Skinner






“Lizard in our house that i named Shaggy”
Somebody in my ward made mini versions of all the missionaries in the ward.
 I think my Mini Me looks like Peter Pan.”
The Tie I burned to mark ONE YEAR GONE.

ONE YEAR!

ONE YEARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
That's so nuts. And you're right, longest year of my life. I feel like I've
changed so much and that I'm this mature man. Then I realize I'm thinking
those thoughts as I play with the rubber Dinosaur you guys sent as I mark
my scriptures with my Toy Story colored pencils. Not so mature yet, Elder Skinner. ;)
 

The Johnsons are my heroes. Such a rad fam. Connor is going to KILL it on his mission in Sweden. 

I'm sorry to say, this week was worse than last week. We had zone conference and that was probably the best part. 

The halfway point of his mission has been the hardest point so far! I won't go into all the details. He's just had lots to worry about. 

Although the week was just awful, your prayers were answered. I've been happier despite the conditions and have just taken it all very relaxed with the whole what-does-God-want-me-to-learn-here attitude. The Johnsons have helped that with their CJ pics. 

Little explanation: Our good friends,The Johnsons' dad was in an accident and has been in bad shape. They and everyone who has ever known their dad is exercising great faith and strength, posting pictures of themselves doing their dad's signature "CJ" face and hand gesture (including their own strong family). And miracles are happening, slowly but surely. 

A few highlights from his latest recordings:

They have a washing machine INSIDE their house, which he loves. Though the video shows a broken washing machine.... I hope that's not the one he was telling us about. 

Morichal has been a difficult area so far. He and his companion could use prayers.

My recordings are super depressing but I'm actually happy. Don't let the
Eeyore voice get you down. :)

I Love you all so much! Mom, you're the best and I can never thank you
enough for what you have done for me here and when I was home.

Elder JenkyBaby! #yoloswag

A cat in the ceiling!

Cooking on the floor.

A soda I used to hate, but have grown to like!

  

Things could be better... but they could also be worse.

Well, It's been a hard week for Elder Justin.  He's hanging in there, but he could use some prayers. 

Here's a picture of the whole mission, but I can't find Justin anywhere. ??? I don't see the eyebrow or the tongue. I don't think he's there...

Since I don't feel like posting his letter this week, I'll post a few pictures from before the mission, just for fun. And cuz I REALLY MISS HIM!

-ivy (mom)

I call this "Thank Goodness for Missionary Haircuts" 

haha

 Flashback to his Priest Quorum activity: "Cutting Justin's Hair"

Looking thrilled.

 Aw. All ready for the missionary picture to send his papers in. 

and then again a few months later...

And a year ago...

 I Love him and am so proud of him! 

1 Year.