April 5, 2010
Well, my comp Elder Sierra had emergency changes. Just a few changes pres. felt like making so he moved some people around in the mission. Elder Sierra went to my old area of Cariari. My new comp is another catracho (Honduranean). His name is Elder Chavez and he has 6 months in the mission. He entered the mission field with two of my previous comps from Honduras, Elder Benedit and Elder Sierra.
Anyway, this past week was interesting. We had a bunch of citas and almost all of them failed us. It was Semana Santa so everybody went to the beach except us. The streets were kind of empty and not many people wanted to listen to us. (a little bit ironic isn't it!) We went to my old ward mission leader from Moravia Esteban's house, because he lives in Tres Rios now. We ate lunch with him, his wife, and his wife's friend Milagros. We went on divisions with the Zl´s again this week. I stayed in Tres Rios with Elder Valerio and Elder Sierra went to Los Yoses with Elder Buckner. It’s fun reuniting with old companions and DL’s.
Our P-day this week was changed to Friday, so on Friday we had a zone activity. We went into the mountains looking for some waterfalls. Our cocinera's son Pablo, his friend big George, and his dog blackie (who should really be called brownie (its actually brown (all the dogs here are called either "blackie" or "ozo"))) were our guides, but they obviously haven’t been there in awhile because we never got to the waterfalls. ended up just going up into the mountains, getting lost in the jungle and walking in circles for hours on end, getting soaked by the rain, and then walking down to Tres Rios again. In the end though it was pretty fun. So far I haven't had a zone activity in the mission were we travel, that has gone according to planned. (it seems that there are many people LOST in the world... you are there to HELP them find the way! *Ü* )
I got to see all of the sessions of General Conference this time. President Galvez thinks it’s important for us to listen to the prophet even if we don't have any investigators present. Fortunately, we did have investigators in the morning sessions of both days. On Saturday morning we went to conference with our investigator Ariel. He is the son of Crystal Jimenez, the Buddhist influenced woman we are teaching. Ariel also has Buddhist influence in the way he thinks so we’ve been teaching him a little differently than we teach other people, but he really liked conference and enjoyed the talks given. We ate some sandwiches that all the missionaries get when they come to Los Yoses at a pulp nearby the church. Then we watched the second session of conference and a family of menos activos we’ve been working and invited to conference, were there for the second session as well. After that session we went to Auto Mercado, one of the only things open because of Easter Weekend, and bought some garbage. I stuffed my suit jacket pockets full of chips and candy, which I enjoyed during the Priesthood session that evening. Then we went home.
On Sunday morning I went on divisions with Gabriel Cervantes and Elder Sierra went with Mario Vasquez to pick up a bunch of investigators, menos activos, and recien conversos and take them to conference. But as usual, although most of them had said they would go, they all failed us, except for our investigators Javier and Viviana. It was awesome that they went because we had been thinking of dropping them. They haven’t been progressing and it seemed as though they didn’t want to change, but they came to conference and they really liked it, and as I saw them watching it together and with their two children, I could see them in white.
We ate lunch with the Zl's cocinera and her daughters and a couple of their boyfriends. On the second floor of the church. Then we watched the last session of conference, which was awesomely inspiring. I watched both morning sessions of conference in Spanish, and both afternoon sessions in English (in a small gringo room). I can't believe it all went so fast. That night we went with the zl's to there cocineras house for a birthday party/house dedication. We went there with a Swedish guy preparing for his mission so we learned a little Swedish. It was fun and we ate cake. That night, last night, we were told that my comp had changes the next day, today, and here I am now with my new comp.
Ok, well, I hope everything’s great back home. I love you. I think ill probably finally send the picks, and finish responding to the letters. I am glad you got to feel an earthquake, but that it wasn’t too strong. I hope you all enjoyed conference. Always take notes. Reread the talk when they come in the Ensign in May. Love you.
Elder Tobler
