On Monday we went to Family Home Evening (FHE) with Jose Marin and Laura. Jose is 1st counselor They are going to move back to Tres Rios this next month. After FHE we payed Laura to give us a haircut.
On Tuesday we did Service at (sister) Hna. Krissia and Julian's house. We helped them peel platanos (plantains), so they could make patacones and sell them. In the afternoon we visited Carla's mom Carmen, a menos activo (less active) woman. We talked with her about her problems, and applied Mosiah 24 to help her understand that God never forgets his promises and if she renewed her covenants by taking the sacrament every week, the Lord would relieve her of the burdens she was carrying.
We also visited Timoteo and put a meta (goal) for him to be baptized this weekend. At first he was unsure, because he felt it was too fast, but after talking about all the preparation he had received from the Lord, even before meeting us, and talking about all the blessings he would receive, he agreed to be baptized this Saturday, and was very excited about his decision.
On Wednesday we did divisions with Golfito, and I stayed in Rio Claro with Elder Fotheringham. We visited Timoteo for his bap interview. We visited some members like Hermana Marbei (Coca) and her two daughters Natasha and Rosed, and shared Alma 47 so they could remember to never let Satan convince them to lower their standards, even a little bit, because he attacks us bit by bit. We also visited the menos activo member family who were recently re-activated, Melvin, Patricia and their children. We taught them about Alma 50, and left them a signed picture about the lesson, so they could remember to prepare themselves spiritually for Satan’s attacks.
On Thursday we went to (president) Pte. Cruz's house and did service by cleaning up the wood and trash that were all over the land around his house. At 2:00 in the afternoon we took a bus to San Isidro de Perez Zeledon. After a 4-hour bus ride we arrived, so we could do divisions with the elders there. We met their investigator family of Elicinio, Ruth, Elicinio Jr., Dilan, Yoxidan, y Nathan. They are an amazing family and the 4 that are over 8, were baptized this weekend. We had a family home evening with them.
That night the four of us Elders slept sideways on two beds we laid across the floor. Its very uncomfortable sleeping like that, but Im having to get used to it. The next day we did divisions with them again. I went with Elder Lopez-Carrasco and my comp with Elder Clark. Elder LC and I had a really good day. We worked really hard, found a few new families, taught good lessons and at night we met up with our comps at Elicinio and Ruths house again. My comp and I did two baptism interviews each (I interviewed Elicinio and Dilan). They are awesome and gave us dinner. That night we set the alarm for 3:30 AM because my comp and I had to take the bus at 4:45 am the next morning, so we could get back to our area in time for English/guitar classes and Timoteos baptism.
The next morning we woke up at 4:40 am, and to our terror realized that the alarm hadn’t gone off and we only had 5 minutes catch the bus to Rio Claro. We desperately got dressed as fast as possible and ran like a kilometer nonstop, just in time to catch the bus. Even though we didn’t wake up at the time we had planned, we are super lucky, or blessed I should say, that we woke up before the bus pass, even if we didn’t get to shower. Unfortunately in our hurry, we forgot our agendas and a few other things in Perez Zeledon, so we were a little dis-coordinated with citas (appointments) and phone numbers and such.
After getting back to Rio Claro we showered (luckily there was water), began to prepare for Timoteos baptism that evening, and went to English and Guitar classes. At the classes we received bad news about TImoteo. The night before Timoteo went to Puerto Jimenez to visit his brother. It was raining intensely many days this week so, the rivers were over flooding, especially in Puerto Jimenez. When Timoteo arrived in Jimenez, he was informed that the river had taken two of his nephews away, and they hadn’t been able to find them. So immediately Timoteo began to help in the search as well. He was in the river and rain, basically all through the night, and because of this, he got really sick. They had to send him to the hospital, and he will be in the hospital for a few days until he can recover. Por dicha (thank goodness), his sobrinos (nephews) were found alive and well, so that was good news. Timoteo will make a full recovery, but because of this incident, he was unable to be baptized this last week in October.
Timoteo's baptism had been canceled for Saturday night, but we still had the Noche de Peliculas (Movie Night) activity. There was good assistance once again, and the members watched up with their families on the huge projector, while we cooked popcorn. That’s right, this time we didn’t just buy package popcorn. This time we made them home made (technically, church made) popcorn. This time we also passed the popcorn out in plastic bags instead of paper towel cones from the bathroom. *Ü*
On Sunday we had a reunion with Pte. Cruz. It was another good day at church, and the assistance remained constant with 45 assistance. I gave the 3rd hour 5th Sunday class about Patriarchal Blessings and other asuntos (bussiness). That night we went to visit Elizabeth, mother of menos activo (recent convert) young woman Daniela. We ate dinner at Hna. Merly and Yasinis house like every Sunday night. They cook really good food. Yum.
Elder Tobler
