May 24, 2010
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This week Javier and Vivianna were married. After being married they were baptized along with their son Alex and a man the hermanas (Sister Missionaries) taught named Jorge. The day of the wedding/baptism was really tiring and wet (a lot of rain) but once the wedding/baptism started it ended up being an amazing night. I lent Javier my suit and gave him one of my ties, and Vivianna bought a blue dress for the wedding. Hna Dunia also lent her some jewelry, some shoes, and did her hair and Javier and Vivianna looked and felt great for their wedding. There sons´ Alex and Jonathan wanted to use ties as well, so i lent them some, and their daughter Alison looked very cute like always in a pretty little dress (she is always so well behaved as well). It was great because many members came to show support and two of Javier's brothers (non-members) came as well.
The lawyer Domaso, arrived late as usual, but he married the couple in a simple, yet special ceremony where they put rings on each others fingers, signed on the dotted line, and did all the classic you may kiss the bride stuff. I took pics, and made Javier and Vivianna kiss 3 times, because I pretended that I didn't get a good pic, when really I got one every time, so I got 3 kiss pics. jajajajaja. There was also a talk about eternal marriage, which is Javier and Vivianna's goal now in a year (they say they are going to invite me). After the marriage we went straight to the baptisms.
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We all changed into baptismal clothes (Alex used his white taekwondo outfit) and after hearing talks about Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost they were baptized. First Hno Fonseca baptized Jorge and then I was able to baptize Alex, Vivianna, and Javier. It was a really special experience. After the baptism we ate food. The Relief Society brought a cake, some cookies, and some frescos. Some of the members who live in San Vicente (Dunnia, Patricia, Ivannia, etc.), near Javier and Vivianna, got together and brought some food (rice, beans, challote, etc.) and utensils. We bought a cake for Javier and Vivianna to take home afterwards and we also provided the chicken for Hna Dunnias arroz con pollo (that morning we went halfway up to San Vicente to take the frozen chicken to Dunnia, but we forgot to bring the chicken so we went back home took the chicken out of the freezer and marched back up to San Vicente with it). In the end everyone was fed and happy and it was a fantastic night.
In other news is I had changes today. I am now in the most Catholic city in the country, Cartago. I'm only like 20 minutes away from Tres Rios, but I'm in a different zone, Zona La Paz and I'm District Leader. It seems like a cool area, and I'm excited to work here and in the other areas in my district which are Cartago Sur (Hnas), Paraiso, and Turialba. My new companion is Elder Rivera from..... you guessed it...... Honduras. My fifth Catracho comp, and my twelfth comp total. He has 3 months in the mission. Although Cartago seems good, I'm still kind of disappointed. I wasn't expecting changes at all. When they told me Friday night i couldn't believe it. Once we finally started getting things going in Tres Rios. We had the plan misional running, the members trusted us, and we have awesome people getting ready for baptism. We put a fecha with Paola and Byron Vega, and got Hna Myriam's son Nicolas ready as well. Ariel, Francisco, Jeudy and Vanessa, Carolina, all getting close. That's life i guess, but it kinda stinks. I really wanted to finish helping Familia Vega become fully active again as well. With Paola and Byron baptized and Jose Luis Sr. and Jose Luis Jr. coming to church again, now we only needed to activate Hna Vega and the other son Stephen. In the end though, I guess the Lord needs me here in Cartago. Good news is Paola, Byron, and Nicolas are going to ask president to let me come baptize them, and since I'm so close, I might be able to.
On Sunday we did divisions like always, and I went up to San Vicente again to pick up Javier and Vivianna and other members. We always pick up a group of members and go on the bus with them to church. Its kind of a little way my goal of riding in a bus full of members to church (which I wanted to do in Heredia) kinda comes true. On the way to San Vicente we saw our investigator Alvaro and invited him to church. We told him to take the bus with us, but he said he would walk. I doubted he would come but he did come and liked it a lot. The young single adults Braulio and Fabian offered to teach him to read every Sunday morning before church, because Alvaro can't read and feels uncomfortable. Our investigators Francisco and Carolina also came to church. The other investigators who promised to come especially since it was my last day, didn't come. THis week there was the most confirmations in the history of the mission here in Costa Rica, 56 of them, and 4 were here in Tres Rios.
After church Hna Bingham (who also had changes) and i felt like a celebrities because we were bombarded with people wanting to take pictures with us. I think it was mostly because of Hna Bingham (because she was there for six months, it was her first area, and she has a beautiful voice) but its ok. Sad to say goodbye to everyone especially Javier and Vivianna and fam. That day i visited and said goodbye to Esteban, Magali, and Milagros, we ate lunch there after getting soaked by rain on the way home. Also visited Familia Vega (Jose Luis Jr., Paola, y Byron in there pulperia), Fam Mesen (Silvio, Milady, Carolina, Keldry, Tahiri), and Familia Vasquez (Hno y Hna Vasquez, Katherine, Marcos, Braulio, Bruno (on mission), Aramis, Saul, etc. there is a lot of them) and ate dinner there.
My ex comp Elder Chavez is now senior comp and district leader in Tres Rios and Hna Almengor is still there as well. Elder Mitton is the new AP, and Elder Valerio is going home to Chile, and then coming back later. Love you bye.
Elder Tobler
In other news is I had changes today. I am now in the most Catholic city in the country, Cartago. I'm only like 20 minutes away from Tres Rios, but I'm in a different zone, Zona La Paz and I'm District Leader. It seems like a cool area, and I'm excited to work here and in the other areas in my district which are Cartago Sur (Hnas), Paraiso, and Turialba. My new companion is Elder Rivera from..... you guessed it...... Honduras. My fifth Catracho comp, and my twelfth comp total. He has 3 months in the mission. Although Cartago seems good, I'm still kind of disappointed. I wasn't expecting changes at all. When they told me Friday night i couldn't believe it. Once we finally started getting things going in Tres Rios. We had the plan misional running, the members trusted us, and we have awesome people getting ready for baptism. We put a fecha with Paola and Byron Vega, and got Hna Myriam's son Nicolas ready as well. Ariel, Francisco, Jeudy and Vanessa, Carolina, all getting close. That's life i guess, but it kinda stinks. I really wanted to finish helping Familia Vega become fully active again as well. With Paola and Byron baptized and Jose Luis Sr. and Jose Luis Jr. coming to church again, now we only needed to activate Hna Vega and the other son Stephen. In the end though, I guess the Lord needs me here in Cartago. Good news is Paola, Byron, and Nicolas are going to ask president to let me come baptize them, and since I'm so close, I might be able to.
On Sunday we did divisions like always, and I went up to San Vicente again to pick up Javier and Vivianna and other members. We always pick up a group of members and go on the bus with them to church. Its kind of a little way my goal of riding in a bus full of members to church (which I wanted to do in Heredia) kinda comes true. On the way to San Vicente we saw our investigator Alvaro and invited him to church. We told him to take the bus with us, but he said he would walk. I doubted he would come but he did come and liked it a lot. The young single adults Braulio and Fabian offered to teach him to read every Sunday morning before church, because Alvaro can't read and feels uncomfortable. Our investigators Francisco and Carolina also came to church. The other investigators who promised to come especially since it was my last day, didn't come. THis week there was the most confirmations in the history of the mission here in Costa Rica, 56 of them, and 4 were here in Tres Rios.
After church Hna Bingham (who also had changes) and i felt like a celebrities because we were bombarded with people wanting to take pictures with us. I think it was mostly because of Hna Bingham (because she was there for six months, it was her first area, and she has a beautiful voice) but its ok. Sad to say goodbye to everyone especially Javier and Vivianna and fam. That day i visited and said goodbye to Esteban, Magali, and Milagros, we ate lunch there after getting soaked by rain on the way home. Also visited Familia Vega (Jose Luis Jr., Paola, y Byron in there pulperia), Fam Mesen (Silvio, Milady, Carolina, Keldry, Tahiri), and Familia Vasquez (Hno y Hna Vasquez, Katherine, Marcos, Braulio, Bruno (on mission), Aramis, Saul, etc. there is a lot of them) and ate dinner there.
My ex comp Elder Chavez is now senior comp and district leader in Tres Rios and Hna Almengor is still there as well. Elder Mitton is the new AP, and Elder Valerio is going home to Chile, and then coming back later. Love you bye.
Elder Tobler
