Feliz Cumpleaños papa!

December, 21 2009

I hope you have a happy birthday. Eat a lot of Chocolate cake for me but make sure to run it off later. JK. I´ll be back for your next B-day so make sure you take advantage of this one. *Ü*

Lucrecia was baptized On Saturday. My comp Elder Cervantes baptized her. My comp almost drowned her but it was a pretty sweet baptism. On Sunday Juan Carlos Restrepo confirmed her.

Yesterday we put a baptismal fecha for this Saturday, with a woman named Elba who really wants to be baptized. She has been to church a couple times and to a few activities. We also might invite a woman named Aurora to be baptized this Saturday as well. There are a few others that we are going to invite for baptism this week as well. Presidente Galvez is planning on coming with us to do Elba´s interview. We have a lot of work to this week.

Also this last Saturday, after the baptism we had the ward´s Actividad Navideño. There was food, clowns, juggling show, piñata, a cake tasting competition, music, and lots of fun. We contacted a lot of non-member people that came, spoke with some menos activos, recieved references, and had a good time with our recent converts and the members.

The Reyes family who sells shoes, gave me new shoes yesterday. I feel bad because i was about to buy some for myself and when i wanted to pay them they just gave them to me. I think Im going to burn my old shoes for my one year Anniversary, Christmas, and New Years. *Ü*

I am going to be calling on Christmas probably in the morning. Maybe at about 10 or 11. Just have the phone with you all day.

Feliz Navidad! ★

...I'll keep trying!

December 14, 2009

YEAR

This week we knocked a lot of doors. Some of the young men in the ward came out with us to work a few days this week. Jose Pablo and Marcelo (recent convert) came with us on Tuesday and Juan Carlos keeps coming with us to prepare for his mission as well. I´ve been giving classes to Juan Carlos and Elder Cervantes (mini-missionary) on how to teach each of the lessons and its been pretty cool to help all these young men get ready for their mission. A guy from the ward named Gilber, left on his mission to Honduras last week. This next week we are also going to go to work with Bryan and Gabriel (recent converts).

This week we cooked a lot but the stove and the microwave stopped working and so now we´ll probably starve to death. JK. Thank you again Grandma and Grandpa for the package. Everything I wanted was inside. thnx.

Yes, I know Elder Ash mom. He was in my district when I was in Moravia and he was in Tibas with Elder Tagliaferi. Elder Ash is awesome.

Lucrecia is going to be baptized this Saturday. We found a lot of new investigators this week. We have recieved some references. They call someone a entrenador (trainer) when there companion is a greenie, although we don´t use greenie much here. Recently Elder Clark of the Seventy asked us to not speak with those nicknames because if someone is in a taxi, and a missionary says," I killed my father" (his trainer finished his mission when he was with him) what will the taxista think.*Ü* So we're going to have to break the habit even though I rarely speak like that, just in the emails.

I know that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Redeemer. He is always there inviting us to come unto him. Although sometimes we don't listen, he is always there with his hand outstretched and if we take hold and follow him we can find true happiness and return with our Heavenly Father again. I know this church is the true church of Christ and his gospel and his doctrine. I Know that Joseph Smith was truly a prophet of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and if we abide by its precepts we will get closer to God. I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is what everyone in the world needs and although sometimes they don't accept it or want to listen I'll keep trying, because I know that when the people do listen and accept the gospel, they are blessed greatly. ♥

Called to Serve

MTC Choir

That is why I dont like saying goodbye...

December 7, 2009

My comp Elder Perez had changes today. This last week he was sad because he was sure he would have changes, and he did. We spent all of yesterday saying goodbye to everyone. There were a few tears shed,and that is why I dont like saying goodbye. Elder Perez is really going to miss this area, because he really loved it here. The people here are like a family to him. I told him not to worry because he can love every one of his areas and the Lord really needs him elsewhere. Apparently the Lord needs him in Vizcaya, in Zona La Sabana because that is where he got sent.

My new comp is a mini-missionary named Elder Cervantes. A mini-missionary is like a temporary missionary that they call when they need more missionaries. Elder Cervantes is 18 years old and is preparing to go on a mission next September. He is from Concepcion, here in Costa Rica. He will be my comp until December 24th, and then they will send me another mini-missionary.

Daniela and David are still doing really well. They are attending church and mutuals and making friends. Lucrecia also goes to church and mutuals with her cousin and she is set to be baptized on the 19th of this month (December).

Mutual this last week was awesome. We were able to get Jerson and James (some recent convert jovenes) to go with us to mutual, because they usually don't go. We also helped Bryan (another recent convert joven), who's family is having financial problems, make it to mutual as well. The young mens mutual activity plans didn't work out, but we started an American Football game going. Elder Perez was captain of one team and I was captain of the other team. In the end i think we ended up at a tied game. It was awesome. We were supposed to play just two hand touch but everyone was tackling each other so that rule got thrown out. I sacked Elder Perez a few times and leveled him once on accident. His team took it out on me a few times (especially the two times i intercepted the ball, ouch) but couldnt stop my recievers from getting a few passes for touchdowns. James went long and caught two of my passes for touchdowns. David ran super fast and made two touchdowns running the ball. Elder Perez's team got us with a few trick plays, when they pretended to hand the ball off to someone and everyone followed that guy, the guy who actually had the ball ran it in for a touchdown. Everyone also had a good laugh when I dived on the hood of a parked car while trying to tackle the guy running for a touchdown. Although it didn't hurt, it sure made a loud sound. After the young woman finished their activity they came out and everyone ate hot dogs together. In the end it was an awesome mutual because a bunch of menos activo jovenes, recent convert jovenes, and investigator jovenes, were able to come and have a good time together. The recent converts Gabriel, Marcelo, Jerson, James, David, Daniela, Bryan, etc. came. Also Eric, a inactive joven, came and is coming back to church. Even some of the younger kids, like Joan were at church so we got to teach kids how to throw a football. I think everyone had a great time. *Ü*

I got a package from Grandma and Grandpa today. Thanks!

I hope everyones doing GRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAT!

Peace.★

Thank you Grandma & Gradndpa for the Package...

Thank you Grandma for the cookies...

Gracias Abuelita por la corbata!

...More Faith!

November 30, 2009

This week we had another baptism. On Saturday I baptized Daniela. It was pretty sweet. On Sunday, Elder Perez confirmed her and she recieved the Holy Ghost. We are also teaching her cousin Lucrecia and she came to church on Sunday. Other than that it was a pretty uneventful week. Elder Martinez, our district leader, is super trunky. He dies (goes home) this week. For Thanksgiving I ate chinese: Arroz Cantones and Chop Suey with bread and Fanta Naranja.

Today for P-day we played soccer (surprise, surprise). It was really fun, but we got a little sun burnt. David seems to be doing really well. He always comes to church and activities, even though he lives far away. Joan’s (Its actually spelled Johan, but pronounced Joan) family really wants to follow his steps and be baptized, but they still can’t. I think Lucrecia will end up following her cousin’s example and be baptized. We are teaching some other people that can be baptized soon, like Melvin and a 12 year old kid named Julio. We have a lot of Recent Converts to teach, so we don’t have much time to find new people, but we are getting a lot of references from members so that’s good.

We’ve been really blessed these weeks. We’ve been trying to have more faith and the truth is I don’t even know where our baptisms came from. Some people are just ready and our Heavenly Father prepares them and basically hands them to us having faith that we won’t screw everything up.

I hope you all had a thankful Thanksgiving. Did you save me any Turkey? I miss a lot of foods, but I can’t remember what they are. Hope everything is going good.

How to teach your children to be GRATEFUL: (Not that I’ve been the most grateful son in the world but here are just some ideas that popped into my head):

★ Teach your children the value of hard work, so they understand what it means to have something or earn something and be grateful for it.

★ Pray as a family and give thanks to God for all that you, as parents, are thankful for, and teach your children to pray and give thanks as well.

★ Thank your children regularly for the good things that they do.

★ Do volunteer work and service as a family so that your kids can see how other people have more problems than them and realize how blessed they are, and so they can feel love for other people and have a desire to serve them.

★ Make your home a happy home so your children can more easily feel and see the blessings they really have . Thank you! ♥

Elder Tobler

Johans Baptism

David's Baptism

Daniela's Baptism

Well, Feliz Cumpleaños Mamá!

November 23, 2009

Espero que tuviste un cumpleaños muuuuuuuuuuuuuy feliz! Hope you have a good b-day week.

David was baptized this week. Juan Carlos was able to baptize him. Then yesterday bishop confirmed David a member of the church and he recieved the Holy Ghost and the Aaronic Priesthood. It was an awesome weekend. We baptized a Colombian in Costa Rica! *Ü*

Daniela has her baptism set up for this next Saturday, the 28th of November at 5:00 pm. We have been teaching Daniela at her new house (she moved to live with her aunt and cousins) and we have started teaching her cousin Lucrecia as well.

Yesterday David and Daniela came to Church. David is already feeling at home in the ward and he has been coming to the mutuals and activities in the ward as well. Daniela seemed to really like church yesterday. Everyone in the ward was really welcoming and was saying hi to her and talking with her. The young men were especially eager to welcome Daniela to the ward. By the end of church she was sorrounded by young men basically with their tongues hanging out. I hope they don't scare her away. *Ü*

Yesterday at night we had a Noche de Hogar (family Home Evening) at Hna Itza's house again. Hna (Sister) Itza's family and Hna Patricia's family, David, Daniela, and Lucrecia were there as well. We watched the "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" movie. It was a really fun FHE. Everyone loves that movie. We ate some chips and dip at the end. I think some people double dipped the chip, maybe even triple dipped but whatever.

We've been taking freezing cold showers this week because our ducha (the shower head type thing that heats up the water) exploded on me last week. In the campo it would be survivable (In Cariari we didn't have a ducha), but here its kinda cold in the morning and cold showers aren't something you look forward to. Luckily, Elder Lanza was able to fix the ducha and we can shower in warm water again.

We keep knocking doors around here. We don't have much success. We are trying out different ways to get people interested in our message so they will let us in. My comp gets kinda discouraged when we knock doors. He hates it. But if we have nothing else to do we have to knock doors. Lately i've been really eager to share our message with people, and we walk around with a Book of Mormon in hand. People just don't understand what they are missing when they reject us. Oh well, we have to keep trying.

I hope everyone is doing fine and loving life. peace.

Elder Tobler

Elder Tobler & Elder Perez

Hna. Patricia & Hna Gladys