1-21-15- Today we did splits I went with Elder Cordoba a missionary from Honduras we talked to Esbin in Mecco and he showed us his gun... it was weird because nobody has guns here... but it was just a little revolver.. and we talked to the investigators of the hermanas and they said their house rent was only 60 colones so 120 dollars a month but their house is kinda eh... but so are all the houses in Costa Rica we had to talk to them becuse they were going to get baptized but the mom abuses the kid so they don't want to get married again a long story...

1-22-15- We went to talk to Asuncion the guy with the acordian and he talked about tithing for an hour and a half he was really getting on my nerves because he was saying how he would never think of paying tithing but he wanted our church to buy him a car so he could work further from his house because he is a mariachi. But he doesn't understand... we taught Jose a guy I found with Elder Adams a young missionary. We taught him about the restoration and he asked us if he could switch religions from Catholic to us, so we planed a baptism date. so we will work with him.

1-23-15- Reina and Missiel can't get baptized this week because of their marrage and its hard becaue they are from Nicaragua. Their daughter was sick and threw up everywhere... their house was really nasty beacuse they don't have the stuff to really clean it here. It smelled so bad!

1-24-15 We went to Mecco again and one family we found had a rabbit as a pet... but it was like a cat they just let it run around their house and when we prayed in the middle of the prayer everybody decided to say their own prayer I guess it was a weird experience for me because I didn't know what was going on but I guess that's just their religion. After that we made tortillas and ate dinner with Gabby and Greiven... a really funny recent convert couple in our ward.

1-25-15- 2 Greengos came to our ward today. we went to Asuncion again and again he would not stop talking about titing and how the Lord would help him with a car and we have money in the states why don't we get our parents to help him out and everything.. and we have nice churches why don't we meet in houses and use the money to help him. Life's hard here being 2 greengos everybody just wants money from us! Reina and Misiel had a baby today! so they didn't come to church!! when you have a baby you have to take the bus for a half hour and then walk to the hospital beacuse there are not taxies in the middle of the night.. how hard!

1-26-15- We went to the waterfalls today they are on the side of a valcano my camera broke because I slipped while taking a picture and it fell... i'm trying to repair it but if I can't I don't know what I will do. We found some vines that we could swing from like Tarzan it was really fun!

It has been said that history turns on small hinges, and so do our lives. Decisions determine destiny. But we are not left unaided in our decisions. If you want to see the light of heaven, if you want to feel the inspiration of Almighty God, if you want to have that feeling within your bosom that your Heavenly Father is guiding you, then follow the prophets of God. When you follow the prophets, you will be in safe territory."-- President Monson

In this crazy world we live in I feel very strongly that our only safety is in following the prophets i try to focus on this when teaching investigators. It seems that outside the church and outside of their teachings, people just get lost and truth gets distorted and people lose their way. The things the world teaches and what it wants us to believe is almost almost oppositeto what the prophets tell us and teach us. We MUST follow the prophets or the world will lead us astray. anyways love you and have a safe week!

 Someone's house 

 Pictures from around town

 A flower by the river

 View of the town

 

1-13-15 we meet some amish greengos.. it was weird i thought they were polygamists.
1-14-15 we ate allot of pancakes
1-15-15 we found a golden family... they are really interested in our message but its hard to teach them because it is a family of girls and their dad works like all day.. and we cant enter the house without a male presence.
1-16-15 we had to wake up at 3 again for the 3rd time this week. because we had to go to tejar alajuela for a zone conference
1-17-15 we had a baptism of manuel today the guy we found in the bus!
1-18-15 we found a parrott and so we taught it to say stuff and blow kisses.
1-19-15 today was p day we did nothing but clean haha
Everybody in this life has their challenges and difficulties. That is part of our mortal test. The reason for some of these trials cannot be readily understood except on the basis of faith and hope because there is often a larger purpose which we do not always understand. Peace comes through hope. Know this week that through your trials there is a larger purpose that we may not always understand, but that the Lord, who is all knowing and who has an eternal vision, knows and understands! Trust him and have peace through his hope! ¡abrazo sus desafíos y problemas! podemos aprender mucho de nuestras problemas. es difícil aveces pero con Jesucristo todo es posible

Rely on Me

I can't really remember what I did this week because i didn't bring my journal but this week we had a check of the month where we got together with the president and the other new missionaries and trainers and uhmm....... we went to a tourist place called Fortuna and everybody there spoke English... I was having a hayday!!! also my companion went on divisions to a place called Pital to do an interview so i was in my area for like 2 days with a companion that new about the same amount of spanish as me and only has been here a month longer and didn't know anything about the area so it was really hard because i had to do everything and we didn't know verry much spanish but I think it was a little better because it was more focused on the spirit. beacuse we couldn't speak the language we had to rely on the spirit and thats what helped us. This week I learned to rely on the lord and not worry so much on the results. Noah didn't build an ark because the lord said build an ark... he didn't run around worrying about the floods. He did exactly like the lord said and everything worked out. alot of the times i think we worry about how we are supposed to regress to live with God again.. but we must remember that God didn't just give us a goal he gave us a path. all we have to do is follow it!

No se preocupen pensando si tendremos éxito; por supuesto que lo tendremos, sin duda alguna. El Señor nos ha enviado a la tierra en la época de la cosecha y Él no espera que fracasemos; Él no ha llamado a nadie a esta obra para fracasar. Lo que espera es que tengamos éxito”.
“Nuestra labor será ligera y fácil de sobrellevar si dependemos del Señor y ponemos esmero en ella.

It tells us that if we have a vision of what we are about and we know the "why" behind our work, then we will have the motivation to accomplish anything, regardless of how difficult. It is all about REAL INTENT! So know your purpose and always ask yourself what the "why" is behind all you do and you will always be doing the right work for the right reason.

Beautiful River for a Baptism!

New years is crazy here! everybody puts their super nice stereos outside and blasts music! They do a ton of fire works because there are no restrictions. woke up at like 3 and they were still going!! I gave my pillow case to a blind guy because I still don't have a pillow and his was really nasty! It was originally blue but it is black now. plus he is blind so he will never know its a cheetah polka dot. One of the sisters investigators got baptized in the river on Saturday and it was really cool. Here are a few pictures.

 

 

Christmas time

12-26-14 today we visited alexis, one of our investigators.. i never knew this but he was a reference from the hermanas... because they couldn't meet with him anymore.... because he killed a guy hahah. but he told us he didn't want to meet with us anymore because his pastor said that if he did he would be damned. and so we went to barrio la cruz and like 4 of our visits fell through so we prayed for the opportunity to teach and we got one! we walked up the street probably from our house to the movie theatres and we got 7 new investigators!! that's unheard of! but one of the investigators is a real character ahah he can play every instrument possible and when we first went to their shack he was just standing there in only a towel playing the accordion and i was videotaping and i was just hoping his towel wouldn't fall off. but this day was super funny because right after we went to visit reina and misiel who are going to get baptized on the 17th and i couldn't stop laughing because the whole lesson misiel the dad. was trying to get the infant to suck on his nipple.. also whenever we walk through the park its like a murder scene because there is blood everywhere. there are fight and a lot of them every night.

12-27-14 today we helped our cook paint their house but it was really scary becuase they had one of those painters platforms because their house in like 50 ft high but it didn't have good support because just everything here is dangerous and crappy but it was fun! then we went to mecco wich is a verry poor area even for costa rica and i played soccer with the kids to challenge them to come to church but i acted like i had never heard of the sport before. and so they were supprised when i beat them.

12-28-14 today we had 10 people in church! it was a great blessing
we have a lot of marc here wich are less actives and recent converts. and while i was planing for teaching them this is what i found:
that the first step is faith- you need to have faith in jesus christ, the atonement god, prophets, all that... and you need to hear the lessons for wich to base your faith upon
second is concrete faith or knowledge- this step is where you test your faith. for example we are the only church that i know of that if you put your time to learn about the teachings of Christ through the bible, book of mormon, other lituraters ect. and then ask god, the same god we all believe in if it is true.. you can reacieve a spiritual witness that it it the truth. this is when your faith becomes knowledge
third is repentance- this is a step of action where we if we want are able to repent of our sins
fourth- baptism- this is where you make a covenant that you will always remember and follow Jesus Christ
fifth enduring to the end- this is the most important step because a lot of people. in costa rica esspecially believe that believing is enough. that getting baptized is enough. but as we learn through the bible that we need to follow Jesus Christ. siempre (always). we are not entitled to glory. we are however entitled to the opportunity to recieve glory. this is what most people don't understand. faith without works is dead. blessings are promised to us but only after we do all we can do.

here are some pictures of tamales a super famous meal here in costa rica

heres a drunk guy.. they are everywhere here becuase that bottle costs like 2 bucks way cheap haha so we always steal their alcohol and go dump it out somewhere. they are always just passed out on the street

here is a speacial mcdonalds treat haha and here is me with an acordian the money and a volcano about 20 miles from our house

 

here were my christmas gifts... some from my companion some from our investigators or the familes in the ward but i got a ton of candies from geepers.. that is a word that means like super creeper loves greengos and only takes lessons becuase she is in love with you. but it was still nice to get a gift even from them haha