February 23, 2009
Hey, I haven’t bought new shoes yet. The yogurt is the same as in Colombia; I get it in plastic bottles. Changes meeting was on Thursday and it was pretty interesting.
We lost our old Dl Elder DePriest. The last day he was here he spent in downtown San Jose calling everyone to repentance.(D&C 18:15 “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”). Anyway we had changes on thursday and it was pretty wild. I wore my sweet new purple tie.
The people who were in the beginners Spanish class in the MTC were the ones who came in. The mission lost about 20 missionaries and gained about 14. In mission terms that mean 20 died and 14 were born. When I first started I kept hearing about all these missionaries who had died and I was a little worried. This week we found an awesome new investigator named Mario Aguerro. He lives in a tin shack on the side of a cliff, the edge of la Isla (yeah, it really is kind of an Isla because there is like a big gorge or trench, or whatever, around the La Isla neighborhood. Unfortunately he didn’t come to church or English lessons like he said he would and when we went to his house yesterday he wasn’t there, but were going again soon. Helen, Vera and family couldn’t make it to English lessons because it was raining too hard in San Jeronimo (highest part of our area, mountains). Also on Thursday we had a big dinner appointment with them that they canceled because someone was sick. Luckily Helen and Vera made it to Church yesterday. On Saturday the other companionship in Moravia had a baptism. It was a 9 year old girl whose parents are inactive. The baptism was very nice and I gave the Holy Ghost talk and was a witness. Elder Clark baptized and Elder Stuetz confirmed her the next day. The corner china restaurant (Costa China) got robbed the other night. The china lady was telling us (when she talks to you it sounds like she’s yelling at you but we know her well enough to know she’s not (were probably her best customers(I usually always get arroz cantonez (rice)con una cadera de pollo frito (fry Chicken) y jugo de naranja con zanahoria (orange-carrots Juice) which costs 1550 colones)))). Anyway, the china lady was telling us that the robbers came in through the roof and stole some cooking supplies. That really stinks but they should be okay. Today we went to an indoor soccer place in Coronado and played soccer with our zone. I still have my vans and I keep sowing them up, but they’re almost destroyed. Yes, I still have and use my tennis shoes, but for soccer I prefer the vans.
A normal day here we wake up at 6 or 6:30 and Elder Bonn and I run or work out or sometimes we are just too lazy. Then we eat, shower and get ready. At 8 we have personal study. At 9 we have companionship study. At 10 we have language study. At 11 we usually walk to Centro and contact. Then we go to our cocineras (lady who cooks) house and eat lunch at 12. After that we rest and study for awhile and then we just go to appointments, knock doors, visit members, contact in the street, etc. We have to be home at 9 but a couple of times we’ve been stuck in los Sitios because the bus takes forever so we’ve gotten home late. That’s only happened about 2 times. Costa Rica is great but there are just a few misconceptions that I heard before I came. I always heard that they take really good care of the environment, but there is trash everywhere here and there rivers are loaded with trash and stink. Maybe it’s because I’m in the city but I just thought it was funny. Also ‘ticos’ are not the friendliest people on earth. There are a lot of nice ones but I hope there are friendlier. Anyway, how’s everyone. Till next week, see ya.
