Just Another Day in Paradise

Hey hey hey family, I hope everything is going well back home. Siquirres is exactly what I thought Costa Rica would be like when I first received my mission call. Just a little town built up in the middle of the jungle. The humidity is something I need to get use to, it´s a whole lot more humid here than anywhere else I´ve been. Elder Logan is a pretty cool guy, he´ll be hitting a year in the mission this change. The Siquirres Branch is something I haven´t quite had to deal with yet. There´s a lot of apostacy going on here, and we´re just trying to keep things rolling. The vast majority of recent converts are inactive, but Elder Logan and his old companion, Elder Odell (from my MTC group) have done a lot of good work trying to put things back together.

My District Leader is once again an AP leaving the office, Elder Manning from Utah. He´s...different. He´s probably the most positive guy I´ve ever met. EVER. He makes my companion sick he´s so positive. It´ll be an interesting change. Hopefully my companion doesn´t kill the district leader. That would be bad.

Saturday we had an activity with the branch. The activity itselt was okay, not really anything special, but before anything started Elder Logan and I helped a lady remove a sloth from her house. It was just clinging to the wall right by the front door, and ticos are afraid of everything. It took a while to remove the sloth and release it into the jungle again. Those things are like Spider-Man in animal form, once it´s stuck it ain´t coming down.

I´ve had a lot of fun getting to know the people here. I´m having the hardest time convincing people I´m gringo, no one believes me. Usually my spanish gives me away, but apparently I speak like a true-blue tico. Even other latino missionaries don´t believe me. =P

Today we had a zone activity, we went to Puerto Limón and goofed off on a beach called Playa Bonita. It started to rain right when we got there, buuuuuuut after a few minutes it stopped and we started playing some soccer on the beach. One of my zone leaders, Elder Shrock from California, was going nuts watching all the big waves coming in. He´s a surfer boy, and he was having a great time pointing out which waves were perfect for surfing on how they formed and all that.

Alright it´s almost time for me to jet. I forgot to mention last week that I received the Brickers´ package at changes meeting. I haven´t opened it yet, saving it for Christmas, but I want you to tell them thank you for me. I still haven´t received your package yet, maybe next Monday I will. We have Interviews with Pres. Gálvez next Monday, as well as Zone Conference on Christmas Eve. I can´t believe how fast Christmas has come, it´s insane!!!!!!!

Alright I gotta go. I love you all, have a great week, and I´ll write back next week. As far as the phone call home goes, I´ll call Christmas morning. I need to find out how I do that again, because I don´t remember. We´ll finalize all that next week. Ciao!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

White Washed

Well, where do I begin. Friday night I got the call from my district leader, Elder Curtis, about changes. We knew Elder Muñoz would have changes, but it NEVER crossed our minds that we´d BOTH be getting changed out. They "white-washed" the area, threw 2 new elders in the area. Elder Muñoz is with the new elders today, showing them where our investigators live, the ward leaders, less active families, and all that jazz. He´ll be going to his new area tomorrow.
I´m now in the province of Limón, a little town called Siquirres with my first gringo companion in 7 and a half months, Elder Logan from Sandy, Utah.

Living Escazú was hard for a lot of reasons. First, Monday night Elder Muñoz and I put a baptism date with a young lady we´ve been visiting, Janet Torres. We planned everything for the 19th of December. A now I won´t be there to see it happen. =( Oh well, things happen for a reason. After we got the news of changes we had very little time to say goodbye to everyone. Several families invited us over for last minute lunch and dinner appointments Saturday and Sunday. I literally got sick from eating so much. The highlight of it all was seeing how much the members would miss us when we told them we were both leaving. Kenia and Sergio both came to church Sunday as well, which was better than anything else I could ask for.

Throughout the week, before getting hit with the changes news, we were really getting into the Christmas mood. Several families invited us to help them set up their Christmas trees. I loved it! Especially since I didn´t get to do that last year. =P

As far as the Christmas call home goes, I can´t call to set up the call like we´ve done in the past. President Gálvez asked us to set up the call by internet (what time and all that). I don´t know what the time difference is. Kind of makes things harder I guess. Just tell me if I should call you first Christmas morning, and then have you call me back. That might work out.

Alright I gotta go but I love you all and I hope you all have a great week! I´m doing good, exploring a new area with a new companion. Hopefully this sudden change doesn´t spoil Christmas. =P
Take care and I´ll talk to you next week!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Vegan Thanksgiving?

I´m glad to hear you were able to spend Thanksgiving as a family, I thought about you guys a lot that day. I actually ending up having a great Thanksgiving despite the fact of being away from home. Wednesday one of the american families in the ward, the Dorsey Family, invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner Thursday. About ten minutes after talking with them Elder Muñoz turned to me and said "Elder, the Dorseys don´t eat meat. They´re vegetarians!"

Easy enough said we spent the greater part of our walking time brainstorming what vegetarians eat for Thanksgiving. =P

However, when we got to the house Thursday we found a full-sized turkey and a HUGE amount of food set out, as well as a dozen Peace Corps volunteers who had been invited as well. =P After explaning a little about what we do as missionaries (and a short few rounds of Apples2Apples) dinner was finally ready. A few of the Peace Corps girls starting asking more about our lives as missionaries and one girl was in absolute shock when I mentioned I hadn´t talked with my family since May. =P Then there was the one hour of internet a week to write our families, the 9 p.m. curfew, and the nice thick missionary handbook with all our rules. I was just laughing at their reactions, because honestly after 14 months in the mission this stuff doesn´t even phase me. It´s just another part of life for me. =P

Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, partially to the fact I didn´t HAVE Thanksgiving last year. The number of pies/variety of course ´didn´t amount to the Thanksgivings I know and love, but all in all it was a great Thanksgiving. Definitly something I will remember for a long, long time.

Sunday was the Primary presentation in sacrament meeting. I only have one thing to say about that: I´m glad to see some things don´t change no matter where you are. =P

No I haven´t got the package you sent yet, I´m hoping I will next Monday. A week from today we have changes meeting, and with 6 months in Escazú Elder Muñoz is pretty sure he´s out, even though he doesn´t want to spend Christmas in a new area. Anything´s possible, but whether we have changes or not I still want to go to changes meeting. If only for the mail. =P

Alright I gotta jet and get ready for work. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Take care, be safe, and know that I´m doing fine in Tico Land. =D

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! =D

So last week we had Zone Conference. It was LONG, but I enjoyed it. Presidente and Hermana Gálvez had really great capacitations, as well as the APs. They touched on things that are really what we deal with in Costa Rica as missionaries, and it didn´t feel like a discussion over things in general. I especially enjoyed Hermana Gálvez´s presentation on something I´ve mentioned before is a big problem here: Ticos have thrown the purpose of marriage out the window.
Presidente Gálvez also asked us to set up our Christmas calls home early and by internet. Christmas is on a Friday, so if you guys want to call me in the morning like we did last year. That seemed to work out pretty well.

Sunday we got a new ward mission leader, Jonathan Iman. He´s 23 years old, from Peru, and was baptized about 4 years ago. He´s a super awesome guy, he´s helped us out a lot over the last 3 months. We went out with us Sunday in order to meet some of our investigators. He´s gonna be a big help getting the members more involved in the work. =)

Also, one of our old investigators showed up again after disappearing a month ago: Juan Carlos. He showed us where he´s living now and invited us to come by later this week to continue teaching him. After a week of rejections this was a breathe of freash air. =)
The Zone Leaders also gave us the address to a girl they´ve been teaching on the weekends, but who lives in our area. Her name is Janet and the Zone Leaders said she could easily be baptized within 2 weeks, they´ve already talked a large part of the lessons and she´s been going to church for about a month now. All gold as far as I´m concerned. =D

Sunday I taught the Gospel Principles class in church since the sister they called to teach wasn´t prepared to. I threw together a quick lesson and it went pretty well. I definitely don´t doubt my decision to become a teacher, I really do enjoy it. Plus it makes me happy that I´ve progressed enough to teach in spanish without any second thoughts. My district leader told me I´ve been here too long because my english is horrible...and he has more time in the mission than I do...that´s what I get having latino companions for 8 months straight. =P

So during my personal studies this last week I´ve come to the conclusion that there´s a perfect example of what we deal with in Costa Rica found in the Book of Mormon. Namely in the conflict between the Nephites and the Lamanites, which is a similar conflict between the Ticos and the Nicaraguans (a.k.a. Nicas).
At times the light-skinned nephites were so proud and content they outright rejected the prophets and thrived in iniquity. While on the flipside, at times such as that of Jacob and Samuel the Lamanite, the dark-skinned lamanites were more righteous than the nephites, or kept commandments that the nephites flat out ignored. Amazingly enough we see the same thing here. The light-skinned ticos are very cold when it comes to talking about religion, and justify their iniquities by traditions. They´re also the most proudful people as a culture I´ve ever encountered. Whereas the dark-skinned nicas are far more humble and accepting BECAUSE of their humility. In thinking about costa ricans in general, a certain scripture keeps coming to mind which says:

"...this people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms..." (Jacob 2:23)

It´s been a long week, to say the least.

Oh yeah, our dueño has got to calling me "Papito", because I´m from Idaho...the potato state...okay well I thought I was funny. =P

Alright I gotta go. I hope everyone has a great week and a great Thanksgiving! I think the bishop has invited us to have Thanksgiving dinner with them...I think...I´m not 100% on that...I hope we have a Thanksgiving dinner! And even if we don´t that´s the mission for ya. =P

Have a great week! I love you all!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Baptized...in a Pool?

Wow sounds like things have been pretty busy lately. My week was pretty hectic as well, but I´ll definately learned to just deal with things better when all goes wrong. =P

Our Ward Mission Leader, Rand Layton, and his family moved back to the states Saturday. Rand helped us out a lot really and it won´t be the same here without him. Hopefully we´ll get another awesome ward mission leader but we´ll see what happens.

With that being said this week was flat out insane. The bishop announced the baptism we had planned wrong and we had to try to throw things together fast. Well, it´s not that he announced it wrong, bishop just announced it when he wanted it done: after church Sunday, when we had it planned for Saturday. I understand WHY bishop wanted it that way, but Pres. Gálvez told us flat out the baptizing and confirming on Sundays is a habit this ward needs to end, and as far as I´m concerned my president overrides the bishop on this. Pres. Gálvez has the keys to direct the work in Costa Rica, what he says goes in my book. So after a week of the bishop not answering our calls Thursday night we finally got a hold of him to let him in on the plans we had made since he wouldn´t answer his cell (why have a phone if you don´t answer it???).
We had made some calls and since the chapel here in Escazú is finally underconstruction, the second counselor in the bishopric, Hno. Dorsey, gave us the okay to have the baptism in his family´s private pool. It all went more or less smoothly. =P The Dorsey´s phones didn´t work all day Saturday, so there was some confusion as to whether or not we would have the baptism at their house or not. But, we had the service, people showed, and we had the baptism.
The bishop still isn´t happy with us shooting down his tradition, but I told him if he has any problems to talk to my president. I did my job and Harvin got baptized, that´s all I can ask for.

Thursday or Friday a small quake surprised us around 3 p.m. It wasn´t nearly as strong as the one I experienced last January, but it was still pretty cool. =P

Oh yeah, and apparently everyone and their MOM has Facebook here. Literally ALL the members communicate by Facebook, bishop and all the leaders included. ...that´s just a little weird to me...yeah...

Alright well I don´t have much else about this week. The Zone Leaders asked me the design something for the zone t-shirts they want to do, so I need to throw that together real quick. I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Tell Logan he better work on his cooking skills because I´m gonna want something amazing when I get home. =P Tell Grandpa and Grandma I say hi as well. =)

¡Hasta luego!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Fugitives on the Lose!

So Tuesday was exciting. Some Columbian drug dealing fugitives were on the lose in Escazú. Police cars were EVERYWHERE, officers were running in all directions, and while we were visiting Kenia y Sergio in the more ghetto part of the area a helicopter came in flying low and on the search. Pretty intense stuff. Then of course news of the hurricane passing by, but then turning and hitting Nicaragua as per usual. Not gonna lie, I was looking forward to a nice hurricane experience. As odd as that might sound. =P

Speaking of such, Kenia is doing fine. The burns have healed for the most part, however Sergio and Kenia as a couple are on the verge of splitting. Sergio flat out doesn´t want to get married, and Kenia is tired of waiting for him. She´s made the decision to move to another past of San José, Hatillo. Luckily, that area is part of my zone. I called the elders there and passed along her number. I also gave Kenia the number for the elders there. Supposedly she´ll be moving within the week, however it´s up in the air whether it will really happen or not.

Jarvin is doing good, we have his baptism planned for this weekend. Sunday was a bit of a pain though because we had the service planned for the 14th (Sabado), but the bishop wants to do it after church Sunday. However, Pres, Gálvez said NO to this after Janiel´s baptism. Janiel is doing okay too. We´re working with the leaders to get him ordained to the priesthood soon.

On the flip side I got some bad news Sunday. Our ward mission leader, Rand Layton, is moving back to the states with his family. Things just didn´t work out here for them I guess. It stinks because now we´re back to square one without a mission leader to help us out organize our efforts with the ward. None of the other leaders respond to us, except for one of the counselors for the young men, Brother Baker.
As far as fallout from the Halloween party, there´s been some friction between a few members and the bishop, but nothing major and nothing out of hand.

Sunday was also the start of something new for Barrio Escazú. They´re tearing down the capilla here and are building a much more spacious stake center in it´s place. Estaca La Sabana will be split come June or July of next week into Estaca La Sabana and Estaca Escazú. So, while things are under construction Barrio Escazú has been moved to the stake center, which is in San José centro. So to get all the members there, since only the gringos have cars, they rented out a bus to make the trip to and from church. It was pretty funny riding back from church in the bus literally FULL to the brim.

Thursday we had interviews with Pres. Gálvez. The Zone Leaders had a capacitation on finding and recognizing los escogidos. It was a pretty good meeting altogether. At interviews I got a letter from Tylan. Good to know the guy´s still kicking in Ghana. Can´t believe how fast time is flying though.

Elder Muñoz has been suffering from homesickness this last week or so. Birthday came and went, and Muñoz has just been sad. I´ve been trying my best to keep his spirits up, but thinking about home at all just makes him more depressed. Poor kid.

Okay well I don´t have much else to tell you guys about the week. Today I saw an old and grey nicaraguan man dressed as Moses. That was a funny site, not gonna lie. The sandals, the robe, the staff, just priceless. I wanted to snap a picture, but I was kind of afraid he´d see me and try to turn my camera into a snake. And that would just be bad. =P

Take care, have a great week, and stay safe. I love you all! I´m doing fine and livin life, no worries here!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Feliz Noche de Brujas

I´ll start off with some things I forgot to mention last week. =)
I found out last week my mini-missionary companion from Cañas, Elder Zuñiga, finally got reassigned to a new mission. He left for Panana about a month ago, but before he left he got the chance to baptize his dad. Miracles really do come true. =)

Last week started out with a scare. Our investigator Kenia was in the hospital last Monday for 3rd degree burns. She was cooking and a huge glass thing of hot, burning oil shattered and burned her arms and her stomach. Oddly enough, this insane and, I´d imagine, painful accident somehow brought Kenia and her menos activo boyfriend Serigo closer. Their relationship has taken a 180 and Kenia said if they´re going to get married, she wants it to happen before the end of November. We´re working slowly bu surely with Sergio, I pray we can make this happen.
We had a baptism planned for this coming Saturday, but I changed the date for the 14th. Sunday came and I just felt something telling me it wasn´t time yet, we still need one more week with the kid. His name is Jarvin, and he´s the younger brother of the muchacho Muñoz and I baptized when I first got to Escazú, Janiel. Jarvin´s a great kid and understands everything perfectly, we just need a little more time for him to drop the coffee habit. =P

Saturday night the ward had a Halloween activity at the church. Well I should say HALF the ward had a Halloween activity. Halloween has a very different feeling to it in Costa Rica. The Catholic Church has a lot of influence here, and due to that influence Halloween is seen as a strictly satanic holiday that should not be celebrated by most all Ticos. Now, a good half of the Escazú Ward are gringos, and for us Halloween is a night just to goof off and have fun. We definately saw the division between the bishop and his friends, and those who are not friends with the bishop on this one. It´s been...interesting to see the fall out from the activity. Hopefully nothing ugly happens.

Today is Elder Muñoz´s cumpleaños! We went to the largest mall in Costa Rica (which of course is in my ridiculously rich area) with the rest of the district and hung out there for a bit. I bought Muñoz a little Superman Hotwheels car (he´s a big Superman fan, but it´s okay, that´s why we have repentance). All in all it was fun and chill, just the way I like it. We have a few citas with members tonight in celebration. I get to enjoy Elder Muñoz´s birthday just like Elder Zuñiga got to enjoy mine. It´s a great thing. =D

Alright, well I better get ready to jet. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Take care, know that I´m doing fine and loving life, and I´ll talk to ya next week!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

P.D.- Elder Muñoz and I have started to play Slug Bug. I think he likes playing just because of my reaction when I lose. =P

P.P.D.- Oh yeah! Andy Call should be coming home this week!!!! You should call his family just to be sure!

Round 2 in Escazu

Tell dad thanks for sending the fotos! It had been a little while since I had seen any new fotos of the house and all that. =)

Okay well I happened to leave out a few things from last week´s email. I was a bit out of it. Anyway last Monday we had a zone activity, a sports day of Zona La Sabana versus Zona La Paz. I´m quite happy of the fact 6 months in Cañas really improved my soccer skills. =P We lost the basketball game, won the soccer game, but then lost the football game. But it was fun all around.

We´ve had a bit of a hard week with our investigator Kenia and her menos activo husband, Sergio. Tuesday we had a family home evening with a gringo family in the ward, the Baker Family. It went really, REALLY well, and I felt really good about it. We put a wedding and baptismal date for the 7th of November, but knew it was going to be some work to make it happen. When we saw them again on Thursday Sergio...I can honestly say I don´t get the man. He wants the best for his family, but he wants it to happen without having to do anything himself. The lesson ended with Kenia running out of the room crying because Sergio just doesn´t want to change or make any commitment of any kind at this point. Elder Muñoz visited them again Friday on divisions with our district leader, Elder Curtis, but no progress was made. We saw them again Saturday and things had cooled down but Sergio still wouldn´t talk about the marriage. It´s been a lot of ups and downs with them this week.

Tuesday we visited Janiel, our baptism from the start of the change. His brother Jarvin was talking with us and asked what he´d have to do to be baptized too. We were just like "Wait, did you really just ask that???" Los escogidos are gonna come along if we´re doing what we need to, that´s all I got to say. =) We put a fecha with Jarvin for the 7th of November as well, and he´s moving along better than we could ask for.

Today was changes meeting. I´ll be with Elder Muñoz for at least one more change, and then he´ll bail with 6 months in the area come Dec. 7th. I saw Elder Litchfield while I was there, and he says hi to all of you. I love that guy. It was great to talk with him again about what life´s been like OUTSIDE of Cañas por fin. =P A lot of the elders that are going home tomorrow were pretty good friends of mine, it´s weird to see them leaving now. Elder Jones (my 1st district leader), Elder Cook (one of my ZLs from Zona Norte), and Elder Shoemake (was my ZL here) are the most notable. Elder Shoemake lives in the Tri-Cities area, it´s been so funny talking to that guy this change. Time is flying, come the end of the year and I won´t know hardly anyone in the mission. =P

Not much else happening on my side of the globe, just work as usual. It´s been getting colder here in Escazú, which is weird because "winter" is suppose to be ending about now. But apparently it starts getting cold when "winter" (o sea the raining season) ends. So weird. =P

Alright well I better jet. I hope all is well back home and everyone is doing fine. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- I passed by Chuck Norris´ house the other day. It´s freaking HUGE! Just a massive mansion. I´m contemplating knocking the door next time we pass, I mean everyone deserves a chance to hear the gospel, right? =D But I´m kind of afraid of getting a roundhouse kick to the face. =P

P.P.S.- Oh yeah, I got to thinking about this the other day. I was wondering if you could send me some Idaho quarters. I figured that´d be a cool little recuerdo to send to converts and comps for Christmas. =D

Servir sin Pensar en lo que Va a Venir

This last week I´ve been a little distracted, not gonna lie, a talk in sacrament meeting Sunday helped me come to the following conclusion:

"Servir sin pensar en lo que va a venir."

Missionaries are always talking about what they want to do AFTER the mission. Always, without question, something is going to be said about plans for AFTER the mission. School, work, and especially girls. I´ve heard it said that no one talks more about their future wives, and at no time does anyone talk about their future wives, than a missionary in the mission field. And I can testify of that, sin duda. =P
But that´s what was bothering me throughout the week. It was sitting in the back of my mind when we weren´t teaching, until finally the answer to my prayers came to me Sunday. Serve without thought of what is to come. What happens afterwards is really just the whip cream and the cherry topping to the desert I´m making right now in the mission. I´m here to help people, to teach them, and hope that in one way or another they´re lives are changed for the better when it´s my time to leave. What happens after this isn´t all that important right now. Not to me anyways. This is the Lord´s time, and from September 24, 2008 to whatever the day is when I go home, what I do needs to be focused in what the Lord needs of me. When I´m released and no longer a missionary, THEN I can think about how to use MY time.

...Yeah I´m off the soap box...just had to let that out. =P

Sunday was full of surprises. Kenia, the lady were helping to plan her wedding and baptism, asked me to bless her baby. At first I was kind of in shock, because I´ve NEVER heard of a missionary giving a baby blessing. The bishop called Pres. Gálvez and asked if it was okay, and President gave the okay. So, I gave my first baby blessing Sunday. Tuesday night we´re having a Family Home Evening with Kenia, her soon-to-be husband Sergio, and the Baker Family from the states (Sister Baker grew up in Moscow). We just need to finalize the wedding plans and have the baptismal date solid, and then I might be able to relax some. =P

I don´t have much else to report on this week, sorry. I´ll try to make more exiciting things happen this week so I have something to write about. =P The work continues, I continue to climb hill after hill, all the while enjoying the time I have here. The ward is planning a Halloween activity, buuuuut because of the influence the Catholic Church has in this country EVERYONE thinks Halloween is a Satanic holiday that shouldn´t be celebrated. And seeing how 60% of the ward consists of gringos, everyone´s just like "Yeah, Halloween. Candy and costumes. What´s so bad about that?"

We´ll see what happens there. =P

I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week. Take care and I hope to hear from ya next week! Ciao!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Not P-Day

Sounds like lfe continues back home. That house has changed so much since we first moved in NO ONE would believe it´s the same house as what it was. But change is good. As I´ve said before, I thrive on change. Life´s just more exciting that way.

Today we had a Zone Conference, so no P-Day for us, just the chance to write home and then it´s back to work. It was a great conference though, one of the best I´ve had in the mission so far. Elder Don R. Clarke of the Seventy came and spoke to us. I love it when general authorities come a speak to us, because what we see watching Conference is nothing like how they are in person. Elder Clarke was hilarious, he really knew how to catch our attention and keep the ball rolling. It was a great conference, and I have a whole list of things to try out and change to help build the kingdom in Escazú. When I introduced myself to Elder and Sister Clarke, Sister Clarke asked me where I was from (in spanish of course). When I answered from Idaho she replied "Elder you´re suprising us!" I love it when that happens. I´ve been with latino comps long enough that I finally have a bit of an accent in my spanish, so it´s not hard to convince people I´m not a gringo. =P

This week Elder Muñoz and I have been focusing on one of our investigadors in specific. Her name his Kenia, and she lives with her menos activo boyfriend Sergio. They have a son whose a little over a year old. Muñoz and his last companion had been working with her for a few months, but trying to convince Sergio to get married was out of the question. POR FIN, Muñoz and I have gotten him on board and they´re working for marraige. Wednesday I had an idea so we found an internet cafe and quickly typed out some "applied scripture". We´re so close, we just need to sit down with BOTH of them and talk about when and how this is going to happen. I´m hoping we can plan the wedding date for the first Saturday of November, and have Kenia´s baptism on the second Saturday. Any prayers offered would be especially helpful. =D

I also realized I´ve walked so far and climbed so many hills in the last year, I might as well walk everywhere when I get home. I literally climb a MOUNTAIN every day here, and by some miracle it doesn´t phase me. Missionary endurance. Gotta love it.

Be expecting an email soon from a family here in Escazú. There´s a gringo family here, the Dorsey Family, who had us over for dinner the other day, took a picture, and Hna. Dorsey plans on emailing you soon. They´re a really cool family. Hna. Dorsey served a mission in Honduras, and Hno. Dorsey in Spain. Really cool family, really funny too. =P

Alright well that´s all I have for the week. I hope all is well back home and everyone is doing fine. No worries about me, I´m over the sinus infection and all that jazz. The cough is still with me, as usual, but otherwise I´m back in action. Now, Elder Muñoz got hit with a pretty tough cold, he was bed-ridden for most of Saturday. Poor guy.

Take care and have a great week. I love you all and I´ll talk to ya hoy en ocho. Oh yeah, this is great, guess who has a vacation home in my area??? Begins with a Chuck and ends in a Norris. I´ll be sending fotos in a few weeks. =P

¡PURA VIDA!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

WHAT A CONFERENCE!

Woohoo! I´m glad the package got to you guys alright! That was really nice of the guy who offered to send it to you guys, I owe him an ever greater thanks because I wasn´t the one to put the chocolate covered passion fruit in there, that had to be him!

Well, I forgot to mention this last week, but last Sunday my annual sinus infection decided to kick my butt. Sunday I could feel it starting, Monday I just had a sore throat, but then from Tuesday on I was dead. It was a miserable week. I still have meds from when I was in the MTC, but sadly those expired at the end of September...so yeah. My nose is still running but that horrible cough I always get is finally faded and I don´t feel like a zombie anymore. Thankfully.

Wednesday we met with our Ward Mission Leader, Rand Layton. We´re going to start planning a Hawaiian Luhau (spelling???) for November. We need to get the members off their lazy butts and get them excited about the work, because the church IS missionary work! Rand is way cool, I´m really glad I have the chance to work with him. We´re also planning on having a capacitation meeting about Preach My Gospel for the members, because none of them know anything about it. And since it´s the literal manual of missionary work, they really need to know about it. Everything we do is because Preach My Gospel says we to do it, so it´s that much more important that the members understand it as well. I´ve put my plans together, since Elder Muñoz and I will be the ones leading the capacitation. I´m actually using part of my internet time today to throw together a Power Point Presentation. I figure a half hour should be enough time to write home. =D

I´m really glad you got to see Conference, Pres. Gálvez had all of us missionaries in EVERY session of Conference. I think that might be because we won´t have P-Day next week due to Zone Conference. =P
But I really enjoyed every talk during Conference, especially Elder Holland´s testimony. Everyone of us missionaries were like "Oh my gosh...that´s testifying with POWER!" I hope Dad and Logan had the chance to go to the Priesthood Session Saturday night. If not you should read over those talks when you can with Logan when they´re available. All in all Conference was amazing. I received a lot of answers to prayers and guidance about what we can do for some investigators we have. Really incredible.

Oh yeah, I don´t know if I mentioned this before. In my zone is an Elder Squirres from Nampa area. It´s good to have more Idaho blood in the mission, we´re an endangered species right now. =P

Well I don´t have much else to report on for the week, with me being sick nothing exciting happened. Just working in the rain. Coughing a lot. Losing my voice. That sort of thing. =P No really, I´m fine now. Happy and halfway healthy. =D
Tell Ashley I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! And that I found a T-Shirt I´m sending her for Christmas. I´m pretty sure she´ll like it.

Well family, I´m wet and cold from the rain. I forgot my umbrella today and we made the mistake of hanging out outside... =( I hope you all have a great week and I´ll be waiting to hear from you next week. Tell everyone I say hi and that I´m lovin life, as per usual. I love you all!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- I bet Prima Veronica was SUPER excited about the temple announcement for Concepcion! I was freaking out when President Monson announced it!

Baptizing At One Year

Wow this week flew by. Where to start, where to start. Well, to answer your question, the church meetings are held in spanish, but about 40% of the ward are gringos and a good 30% of them don´t speak spanish, so they have translators for them. Weird stuff.

You´re totally right , this last year HAS gone by fast. I really don´t believe I´ve been out here for a year, it really doesn´t feel like it.

First off, Friday we had interviews with Pres. Gálvez. I love President Gálvez, he puts such a personal feeling to everything he does and with 150 some missionaries under his direction it´s nice to feel like he actually knows who I am. It was cool to talk with the rest of the zone, especially my zone leader Elder Shoemake. His from Tri-Cities and he goes home at the end of October. It was so funny talking to him. Also Elder Maradiaga is in my zone too. I talked with him for a bit about what he´s been up to the last month and what was happening in Cañas when I left. I don´t know if you heard about this, but the church finally released a new spanish bible like the english King James Version we use. I´m debating about buying it or not in the mission. I talked to President Gálvez and he said to hold off a bit until he can talk to the area seventies for a missionary discount. That´d be really helpful. I´m willing to bet we´ll be seeing the new missionaires coming in with the new bible.

Sunday we had the baptism of our investigator Janiel. He was so stoaked it was amazing. A lot of members were at the service which made it even better, and everything went smoothly. We had been visiting Janiel every day during the week to make sure nothing happened to keep him from getting baptized. I had a feeling problems might arise, but everything went perfectly fine.

The raining season has FINALLY come. Supposedly the raining season starts in May, but it´s been a really dry Costa Rican "winter". Really hot too (especially in Cañas). Over the last few weeks the rains have finally come. When I first got into the country, an older missionary told me there were only 2 season in Costa Rica: Rain, and Less Rain. We´ve been getting torn apart by the rain these last few days. Power thunderstorms that just turn the roads to rivers when we´re higher up in the mountains of Escazú. Just insane. Luckily the only thing I´ve found Ticos REALLY DO know how to make are umbrellas. I swear they make the best umbrellas in the world, that is if you go with the Penguino brand. =P

My ONE YEAR mark was pretty fun. My comp treated us to McDonalds for lunch (Mmmmmm Big Mac) and then he bought me a cake Thursday night. It was super funny. All day Elder Muñoz was asking me stuff like:
"What were you doing at this time a year ago?"
"...Ummm...I was just arriving at the MTC."
"WOW!"
Every hour was like that, I just laughed. So weird to think I´ve been away for a year. That´s just crazy. Doesn´t feel like it at all. That´s super weird about the jury duty thing. They didn´t really ask if I could come home, did they? What the freak??? Normally I would say they pulled a Tico, but I guess people like that aren´t only found in Costa Rica, I just found a way to ignore them in the states. =P

Alright well I don´t have much else to say about the week. The work continues and time keeps flying. My companion Elder Muñoz wants to marry Ashely, just thought I´d let her know that. =P

I love you all and I hope you all have a great week. I´ll talk to you next week!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Bienvenidos a Utah

I have a lot to tell you guys about this last week so bear with me on this one. It´s really been a packed week.

First off I feel like I found a small Utah-oasis here in Costa Rica. The bishop´s name here is Dave Pattey. He and his family moved down here when they´re neighbors, the Acostas, were called to be the mission president 6 years ago, before Pres. Arbizú. Our ward mission leader (I actually have a ward mission leader for once!) is Rand Layton from Utah as well. There are a ton of gringos here, so I won´t take the time to list them all, but another notable family is the Baker Family. Sister Baker is from Moscow. Small world huh?
Anyways yeah, it´s super crazy here. This has to be the most NORMAL ward I´ve seen in Costa Rica, but that´s also cause it´s run by gringos I suppose. Costa Ricans kind of do things their own special way I´ve come to realize. They are so many english speakers in the ward they actually have translators for the church meetings, how crazy is that? I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting, 1st time in 10 months. I´m really happy with my spanish. I still need to tackle that freaking past-subjunctive bit, but I can speak well enough now that a lot of people didn´t believe me when I told them I was from the States. =P
When I tell people I spent 6 months in Cañas, Guancaste they´re all like "Yeah, you sound Guanacasteco." ...Cool...I can start telling people I´m Tico now for real. =P
With so many gringos in the ward I can definately feel the pressure they put on the missionaries. They have their expectations for the missionaries, but I´m trying not to think too much on what they think. If I just keep doing what I need to be and working hard, it shouldn´t matter if I meet the members expectations or not. Missionaries aren´t perfect, we have our faults. It just depends on whether we´re working or not.

My new comp Elder Muñoz is a super sick kid. He only has 8 months in the mish but he knows what he´s doing. He reminds me of myself when I first got to Cañas, kind of unsure if I knew what I was doing. I´ve been trying to help him with a confidence boost the last few days. We started singing a hymn before Companionship Study Tuesday and Elder Muñoz told me he´s in love with my voice. I don´t know if it´s been the singing hymns 8 times a day or what, buuuuut apparently I can sing for like real now. =P I dunno know, just thought it was funny.

After 6 long months of hard work in Cañas I´m started to see the blessings of diligence here. Thursday we put a baptismal date with a 17 year old kid named Janiel. In the last month he´s gone from smoking 40 cigarettes a day to ZERO. He understands everything really well, and seeing how he´s been going to church consistently for the last month we put the fecha for the 27th. I have a feeling Satan´s gonna be working extra hard to keep Janiel from getting baptized, so we´re putting a lot of effort into this week to help Janiel focus and stay on the straight and narrow. I could use some prayers over the next week.
We have another guy named Juan Carlos who we´re hoping to put a baptismal date with this week as well. He´s 30 something, I can´t remember exactly how old he is, but he´s super receptive and has a really good understanding of the doctrine. The trick is getting him to church, since he´s really poor and lives a good distance from church. We just need to help him have such a desire that the distance won´t mean anything. =D

Oh yeah, my area is freaking HUGE!!!! Holy freaking cow, it´s big. I´m pretty much on the outskirts of San José, at the foot of the surrounding mountains. When I was in my first area I could always see this cross WAY far away in the mountains and I always thought "Hmmm, I want to climb that cross." Well, that very cross is now part of my area. =P We´re gonna go climb that mountain next week with some of the youth and hopefully my district. =D

Oh yeah, Sunday at church there was this guy from Arizona who was visiting due to business. He offered to take and send the package I´ve been holding on to since last Christmas. =P Haven´t just gotten back into the city and with no time to look, I didn´t have the chance to send Dad or Derek anything yet (Cañas had ZERO stores from which to buy trinkets and the like). Tell Dad and Derek I´ll be sending them jerseys from the Costa Rica national soccer team ASAP. =D

Wow, a year has come really quick. I still don´t feel like I got time in the mission, I feel like there´s still so much I need to learn. I can only pray that The Man Upstairs can help me make up for what I lack.

Alright well I better jet. I hope all is well back home and everyone is doing fine. Tell everyone I say hi and I´m loving life as usual. Take care and I´ll talk to ya next week! I love you!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- Ugh, I hate changing areas. Mainly because the missionaries that leave never leave any plata to make through to the end of the month. I´m gonna need to pull out some personal funds tomorrow or else I won´t be eating anything for a week or so. Sorry. =(
Really $20 is all I need. Thank you!

Un Cumpleanos en Ticolandia

Whew, talk about a busy week. I definately saw the fruits of my being here in Cañas for 6 months, that is to say the members really love me here. =D

Monday (Aug 31) night one of my favorite member families, Hna. Arelis and her 3 kids, brought me and Elder Zuñiga lasagna and Tres Leches as an "early" birthday surprise. Having not eaten lasagna in a year, it was really, REALLY good. =P
Wednesday (Sep 2) my baptism Andres and his family invited us over for hamburgers (REAL hamburgers, where there´s more meat than there is bread, as it SHOULD be), and gave me a few small gifts. =D
Thursday (Sep 3) was insane. First Hna. Arelis and her kids called me in the morning and sang "Feliz Cumpleaños", and then Elder Litchfield and Elder Stevens did the same. We had lunch with Hna. Arelis and her family (mondongo en salsa), the kids had bought me chocolates and then they brought out the real surprise: FLAN! ...yeah...I was really happy with that... =D
After lunch Elder Zuñiga and I decided to head out to a little pueblito called Sandillal, since we weren´t having any success in Cañas. It was a beautiful half hour walk out there, and contacted and few people, knock a couple doors, and for the first time in months people actually invited inside to teach them! I´m pretty sure missionaries haven´t even touched Sandillal before, no one there has talked to missionaries before. =D
After a 20 minute walk back we visited one of our menos activo families, Jeisson and Leidy Flores. We shared a short message with them and then they broke out the CHEESECAKE they had made for me! I wasn´t expecting that, but it was a welcomed surprise.
Next stop was the Elders Quroum President, Don Tomás, and his family. Now I´ve never been too sure if this family really liked me or not, and when they invited us over for my birthday I wasn´t sure what to think about it. But, after a full meal of chicken, rice, and salad I realized no one would do so much for someone they didn´t like. =P But when they turned out the lights and brought out a HUGE cake complete with candles, singing "Feliz Cumpleaños" I definately felt...loved by the members here. I´ve spent 6 months out here for a reason, that´s for sure. =)
Our last cita for the night was with Familia Zuñiga, another menos activo family. They´re also the coolest people in the branch along side the Branch President. Has a heads up, it´s a tradition here in Costa Rica to throw eggs at people on their birthdays. Think about that.
Well...Elder Zuñiga and I showed up at the house and my district leader Elder Stevens was there too. The alarms started going off when I realized Litchfield was no where in sight, ni tampoco the oldest son of the family, Roycito. Long story short, Litchfield jumped out a bush and cracked 2 eggs on my head yelling "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!". Roycito followed jumping from behind the gate and cracking 2 more eggs one my head and neck. When I thought all was said and done, Hno. Zuñiga, the father of the family, walked over beside me, out his arm around me, and said "Feliz Cumpleaños, Nuñez. Disfrutelo." And then he crack yet ANOTHER egg on my head.
...it smelled HORRIBLE...to say the least.
I spent a good 10 minutes trying to clean the egg out of my hair, it was so digusting. =P Hna. Zuñiga had fixed Tres Leches for us, we played around with them for a while, and then made for home. I tried cracking an egg on Litchfield buuuuuuut he ran for the hills when he realized what was happening. =P

All in all, my first birthday in the mission was great. Awesome actually. I felt so sick after all the food and deserts, but it was a really good day.

Friday we found some really sick investagators who invited us back for Sunday, and we ended the night with a dinner of T-Bone steak, mashed potatoes, and CARROT CAKE. It was just a good follow up to my b-day. =D
Yesterday at church members were giving me b-day cards they had made themselves, most of which had Spider-Man on them. =P And I talked with the Branch President, Pres. Reyneir, about what Elder Zuñiga and I could do in this week to help him most. Seeing how this could be my last week here, I want to go out with a bang.

Friday Elder Reyes, the financial secretary, called me up about some money issues since my companion doesn´t have a mission credit card. We found out the day of Changes has been changed from the 17th (Thursday next week) to the 14th (next Monday). That means we find out about Changes Saturday night, and take the bus for San José Sunday evening. Giving us no time to say goodbye to anyone. =(

It´ll be interesting to see how things play out. But, I have at least one more week here in Cañas. Time to finish out here strong.

I hope everything back home is going well. Tell everyone I love them, and tell Ashley that when I come home, her birthday will be a week away. ...I will egg her for her birthday... =D

I love you all!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

P.S.-Has anyone found my old camera back home? Or how about that little white MP3 player? The CDs I have are getting scratched up, I need something that´s not a CD player or I´ll end up music-less in a matter of months.

Feliz Cumpleanos a Mi

In 3 days, I turn 21. At this time I feel both old and excited. Old because I´m the oldest in my district by at least 8 months, and yet we all have the same time in the mission. ;)
Excited because this is my 1st birthday in the mission, which is awesome. =D

This last week was a rough one. Having been in this area for almost 6 months now I have managed to contact everyone who lives within my boundaries, most of whom I somehow remember by name, and I´ve knocked every blasted door 3 times or more, depending on the neighborhood. I count my lucky stars that Elder Litchfield has been with me every step of the way these last 6 months. I would´ve lost my mind a long time ago were it not for him. =P

In other words, I think I might´ve killed my area...just maybe... =S

I talked with the ZLs and my district leader, Elder Stevens, and we all decided they just need to do what we call a "white wash": Throw 2 new guys into the area who know nothing about it. Zuñiga and I keep working hard every day, by some miracle or another, but nobody wants anything from us. It´s both sad and disappointing, but it happens. My patriarchal blessing told me straight out the mission wouldn´t be easy for me, but I just gotta keep on trying. We really need to find someone new to teach, the investagators we have are not progressing and are on the way to being dropped soon if we can´t help them keep at the very least one commitment.

This week holds promise to be exactly what I need to keep on going for the next 2 weeks or so. The good thing about being here in Cañas for 6 months is all the members love me, which means they all want to give me cake. =D

And I have absolutely NOOOOOO problem with that. ;)

(Side Note: Mom you should try to find the recipe for something that´s called Tres Leches. It´s the best desert in this country!)

We have B-DAY appointments Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with a few of my favorite families. I will admit I am a little scared though...there´s a tradition here to throw eggs at people on their birthday...we did it to Elder Campbell before he went home. =P

Buuuuuut I´d rather that not happen to me until NEXT year. At least then they can ruin my clothes and I WON´T CARE, seeing how I´ll be going home 3 weeks later. =P

But I still have a year left. Which means, I need my clothes. =P

Alright well, not much else to say about this week. I´ve got quite a few fotos to send home, hope you like them. Thanks for sending the fotos from Hawaii! It was good to see some new fotos from the family. =D

I love you all, I hope all is well, and I can´t wait to hear from you again next week!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

¡Cuidado con la Torta!

Sounds like Hawaii was amazing, I hope I get the chance to visit myself someday. I hope everything back home is okay.

This week was okay. We worked hard but we´re still struggling to find new investigators. We´re going to be trying some new things this week with members to get some references for once. I pray something happens to turn things around quick.
Thursday we went on divisions with the members, I was with the branch president Pres. Reynier. We went to visit our investigator Robin and his mom (por fin). We´ve been trying to talk with the mom forever, but we´re still at a stalemate with Robin. The mom doesn´t have a problem with Robin getting baptized, as long as it´s Robin who says something about...and he hasn´t said anything to her...there´s really no communication in this family whatsoever. It´s just kind of a brickwall in that arena until Robin has the desire to take things into his own hands. We can only do so much with where we´re at right now.
Saturday we threw together a youth activity for the 2 branches. We were planning on about 20 youth or so, so you can imagine our surprise when 50 YOUTH showed up at the church. We had very little leaders to begin with, 6 from my branch and only 2 from the other, but we made due. =P We had a ton of games planned, but it took so long to organize all the teams that we were only able to do a few. Human wheelbarrel race (I don´t remember what it´s called in english), tug-o-war, and then the water balloon toss were just a few we were able to do. We end with scripture trivia, and if you answered wrong you got a pie to the face. Overall a lot of fun and then leaders were really impressed with all we were able to do with very little money. =P
Poor Elder Zuñiga, he was pretty much incharge of the whole thing, and trying to control 50 kids was just fatal. It was a lot of fun though and with the amount of youth that came (both members and investigators) we definately accomplished our goal. We even found a few new investigators, which helps us out a lot. Elder Zuñiga and I knocked all week long and only 2 people let us in. It´s hard when I´m knocking everything for the 3rd or 4th time, and finding new people to teach through knocking just isn´t helping us out right now.

Today is my 11 month mark. Crazy how fast time is actually passing by. Weird to think I´ve been in this area for 5 months, going for 6. I just want to leave the area with one more baptism at the very least, and I know we can do it. Between Robin and this Jehovah Witness girl we´re teaching (Hazel) we´re SO close. Just need to keep working hard and with everything we have, and sooner or later it´ll all pay off.

Anyways, I hope you´re all doing well back home. I can´t believe you guys go back to school this week. Where did the summer go??? Well, when the end of summer you know what that means? BIRTHDAY TIME! 10 days till 21...freak I´m old. =P

I love you all and I can´t wait to hear from you next week!
Cuidense mucho y disfrute el nuevo año de escuela!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Zona Canas: Resucitado

This week was very, VERY confusing. I hope you have time, because it´s quite the story.

Sunday was nuts. We had to figure out what house we were living in and then take EVERYTHING out of the La Union house and move it all into the Cañas house. That meant I needed to pack as well. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was spent visiting people for Maradiaga to say his goodbyes and take fotos. Wednesday afternoon we left for San José and spent the night in the mission house. There was quite the party going on there for the new missionaries, complete with piña coladas, shishkubabs (spelling???), and yeah...it was pretty crazy.
Thursday was Changes Meeting, and Elder Litchfield and I recieved our new companion Elder Stevens from Mississippi...never could spell that state. =P Anyway we made the 4 hour bus ride back to Cañas, unpacked our stuff and made it home. At 9 p.m. we started planning for Friday when the phone rang.

It was Pres. Gálvez. And he wanted to talk to me.

Saturday morning I had to move all my things BACK into the La Union house.

Saturday morning I had to infrom the branch president of La Union that he has missionaries to work with.

Saturday morning I recieved my junior companion.

I´m back and going on 6 months in Rama La Union. I´m with Elder Zuñiga, who is also from Costa Rica. He served 9 months in the Guatamala North Mission, but some things went down back home (he´s the only member in his family) and he came back to Costa Rica to try and help. Pres. Gálvez met with Elder Zuñiga and told him he should finish his mission. That´s when Pres. Gálvez called me.

For the first time since I came to this area, I feel like my companion has the same drive to work as I do. Elder Zuñiga is a great teacher, he´s great with members, and we work great together. Finally, we can start to change the mentality of the area. Finally we can show the mission that you CAN baptize in Cañas. I´ve got good feelings about this change. We have a good amount of people who can easily make it to the waters of baptism, and a companionship ready to do it. I feel reanimated and I couldn´t be happier.

With the death of Elder Gonzalez (he ended the mission) and Elder Maradiaga getting changed out, Litchfield and I felt our "Zona Cañas" had died with them. But now? I´d say Zona Cañas is back and stronger than ever.

This week is going to be a little crazy. We have divisions with the Zone Leaders Thursday and Friday. Elder Zalava is still ZL and, drumroll please, Elder Jones has joined him. Elder Jones was my 1st district leader when I got into the country. =D
Saturday we have Zone Conference, but, we have to go to San José. Another change of Pres. Gálvez. We´ve got a lot to do and very little time to do it before Conference.

I hope everyone back home is safe and enjoying the end days of summer.
Mom and Ashley, have fun in Hawaii! Can´t wait for the pictures!
Dad, I hope your doing okay and enjoy your 2 weeks free of women. ;)
Logan, have fun and keep up with the exercise. You´ll be glad you did.
And Derek, take care of yourself and remember: Life after high school isn´t a walk in the park. Just roll with the punches and learn the best you can to make your mark in the world. I know you can do it.

I love you all and I can´t wait to hear from you next week! Hasta luego!

Su Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Weirdest Changes Ever

I can relate with the hot weather...the other day Litchfield and I were like "Wow, it´s a pretty fresco day." Then we saw what temp it was...90 degrees...I´m going to absolutely FREEZE to death when I get home. =P

Alright well, talk about one crazy week. With Elder Litchfield´s companion Elder Gonzalez "dying" as we call it (going home) members were inviting the four of us to dinner every night, which was fine with my comp because he was living off a mil for the week (that´s about $2). I ended the month pretty well off cash wise. I had $40, $20 of which I saved to pay for the temple trip/lunch/and all that jazz. I´m pretty proud of my money managing these days, I´m almost never hurting at the end of the month. =D

The temple trip was a little weird... For one it was suppose to be a zone activity, and the 4 of us made it JUST in time for the morning session. But when we got there, the rest of our zone was nowhere to be found... The temple president kept asking us where the rest of the zone was, but we had no idea. Only 2 other missionaires showed as we were leaving. None of us were too happy with the ZLs on that. Turns out they woke up late and decided they couldn´t make the half hour bus ride, which is nothing compared to our 4 hour viaje. Really poor planning on their part, and Elder Gonzalez wasn´t too happy about it because it was his last P-Day.
Other than that little mishap I enjoyed myself. The four of us missionaries helped out our branches doing baptisms for the dead (Maradiaga and Gonzalez confirming, Litchfield and I acting as witnesses), and afterwards we went to the mall in San Ramon and enjoyed some good ol´ McDonald´s icecream sundaes with my branch president and his family. Good times, good times. =)

Nothing too exciting happened throughout the week. Things were a lot better than they had been in previous weeks. Maradiaga realized the campo makes him lazy, and he´s been trying to change things up a bit. I feel really good about last week, we did the best we could and that´s all I can ask for. Tuesday and Friday I was on divisions with Elder Litchfield. He´s such a cool guy, just another guy I´m going to be chilling with after the mission. 2 months in the MTC together, and now 4 months here in Cañas. We´ve definately become brothers in Costa Rica and close friends. Haha, he even offered me his little sister...if I can afford her...=P It was pretty funny.

Wednesday night Maradiaga and I passed by our baptism Andres. That kid is so awesome, I´ve never seen such faith in someone so young. 14 years old, goes to church every Sunday without fail, reads the scriptures every day, and understands everything so clearly. It´s been a blessing to be part of his conversion. He told us about how he gained his testimony and the moment he knew the church was true. I have high hopes for that kid. Mission hopes more than anything else.

Well that brings us to, for me, the most important news of the week. *DRUMROLL* Changes! Well we had our many predictions of what was going to happen, and we came up with almost every possibility we could think of. Our final conclusion was this: Gonzalez was going home, nuff said. They would close La Union (sadly), I would be taking off for my 3rd area, and Litchfield & Maradiaga were going to be companions in Rama Cañas.

We were wrong.

Dead wrong.

La Union is going to be closed, we were right on that. However Elder Maradiaga is leaving after 2 and a half months, and I am going to my 3rd area after all...Rama Cañas...with Elder Litchfield! All of it seems more or less like what we were planning on, only with me and Maradiaga switched around. But there´s more to it, and this is where things get weird. Elder Litchfield is not only my new companion, but ONE of my new companions. They´re putting a TRIO in Cañas for the next 6 weeks (por la menos). Why? This is what the APs explained to us:

18 missionaries are going home Tuesday (Aug 4). We were suppose to be receiving 20 new missionaries...we´re only getting 10. On top of that, 6 missionaries are leaving 3 weeks early for school this next change. In other words the San José Costa Rica Misión is only getting smaller and smaller. There hasn´t been a change yet as far as I´ve been here where we´ve received more, let alone equal, new missionaires than there´s been missionaries going home. 6 areas are being closed, La Union being one of them.
This trio thing has been a pain for us because we had to move all our stuff into one house (La Union had one, Cañas another). Maradiaga and I lived with a great family, who have had missionaries living there for more than 25 years. But the apartment we had was hardly big enough for 2 missionaries. 3 would be impossible. It was heartbreaking to tell Hna. Odi and her family we couldn´t live there anymore, no matter how much we wanted to. We had direct orders from the APs that we had to live in the other house, and that wasn´t going to change. We all feel pretty bad... =(

Well that´s all the news I have for the week. I´m going to be comps with Elder Litchfield! And I´m getting yet ANOTHER new companion Thursday. I´ll write next week with the details of it all. I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week. Mom, have a safe trip to Hawaii and tell Ashley the same. Enjoy yourselves!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- Will you be able to write me while in Hawaii???

Reading, Praying, and Turtle Eggs

Hahaha, sounds like you guys are enjoying summer vacation. So you leave for Hawaii in 2 weeks? Wow, I bet Ashley´s getting really antzy to go. I´m really glad to hear Logan´s making friends in the ward, he needs that. A good confidence boost. What did you guys do for Dad´s b-day??? Anything special? I´m glad Dad´s able to keep himself busy with projects and stuff, and I bet he is too. What do I want from Hawaii??? Well since I won´t actually get it for another year or so...meh, keychain and maybe one of those louhou dolls for my car when I get home. =P I´d be content with that.
I did a little victory dance when you said you sent sour patch kids, just so you know. =D Hopefully I´ll get the package at changes.

Alright so, what´s new here...Well for starters the situation with my companion is still the same. Maradiaga just doesn´t care anymore, and his lack of decision making skills makes it worse. I´ve given up waiting for him to shape up. He´s a cool guy and we have fun, but if he´s not going to do his job and actually work while he has the chance then I´m gonna do it. Maradiaga will just have to follow my lead.
Saturday was National Service Day for Costa Rica. The 2 branches helped clean up an old folks home and the four of us helped out as well. The women painted benches while us MEN chopped down a tree, cleared out a ton of tall grass with machettes, and planted a dozen small trees. The four of us missionaries were pretty beat afterwards to say the least. But all in all it was good fun. Not much else happened this week, just work as usual.

This Saturday is the temple trip. I´m going to be pulling out money Friday from the account. I´m trying to be a little pinche this week so that I can pay for the buses with mission money, and be able to buy a few things I need at the temple store with personal cash. I´m looking forward to going to the temple again. I need the opportunity to clear my head a little and refocus, and the temple is a great place to do that.
We had lunch with the branch president, Pres. Reyneir, and his family yesterday. They´re so cool, and Pres. Reyneir is super enthusiastic, he reminds me a lot of Dad: funny, great with people, and always ready for the next task.
The closer I get with some of our menos activo families, the more I realize what a great job you and dad did raising me. I´ve taught on multiple occasions the 3 most basic principles in the gospel: read the scriptures, pray often, go to church. And every time I teach this lesson, I can´t help but think about the example you set while I was growing up. I remember when I was really little how Mom would always read us stories from the childrens´ picture version of the Book of Mormon, and how we all would always pray as a family every night before bed. Then of course there was Mom´s undying diligence of going to church every Sunday regardless of circumstances. But what I remember most of that time is how UNITED we all were. That´s what strikes home with me more than anything else. We were so much more ONE as a family in that time than any other, as far as I can remember. But it´s that feeling of unity I always stress when teaching less active families, because I see in them the same struggles we all faced together as a family. It´s all...well, I´m just really grateful for the effort you and dad put into trying to raise us kids right. For me it made the difference.

Hmmmm, well I don´t have much else to say really. Not a whole lot has been happening. I´m finally going to try mondongo next Sunday when we visit Pres. Reyneir and his family again. Oh yeah, some girl told her mom she´d start going to church again just to see me because I´m "tan guapo"...how bout them apples? I got a good laugh out of that. =P
Oh yeah, and apparently I´m humble??? Last night we were visiting a family from the branch who are having "differences" as they put it with other members in the branch. ...A situation we´re all too familiar with... Anyway as we were talking and I explained the importance of going to church not because of the people, but because of a sincere want to follow Christ, then mom replied that it´s not easy to ignore what other people say. That´s when the daughter of the family jumped in and said "That´s why we need to be humble like Elder Núñez!"
...I was a little taken aback, not gonna lie. I´ve never really seen myself as humble, I´ve just tried to do the right thing and screw up as little as possible, get along with people as best I can, yadda yadda yadda. Not that that´s always worked out for me, but at the very least I can say I tried. Not sure if that qualifies me for "humble" though.

Qué mas...oh yeah, Elder Litchfield and I had the honor of eating turtle eggs together. =P I tried turtle eggs back in Tibas, but that was a raw egg in a salsa drink that you just downed in one go. This time round was a little different. Thursday night we had dinner with our cook and Litchfield brought 2 cooked turtle eggs. I never handled a turtle egg before, it was weird. You learn in grade school the shell is like leather, but to actually feel it was interesting. To eat it we had to bite into the shell a little and suck out the liquid (it was really spicy, they cooked it in chile). Then you just opened it up and ate the core. It wasn´t too bad, but I like the salsa drink more. =P

Alright well I better jet. I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week. Changes are next week, so I´ll be emailing next Monday on whether or not I have changes. It´s about a 70% chance that I´ll be leaving, but anything´s possible. Oh yeah, there´s a book I´m wondering if you can find called "The Little Book of Missionary Reminders". I think it´s a bit older but hopefully you can find it. That´d make a cool little b-day present (ONE MONTH!). =D

Adios! Ciao! Cuidense!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Rushed Letter

I´m glad to hear everyone´s doing great for the most part. Glad to hear Logan had fun at scout camp and that´s awesome he did so well in the shotgun shooting! Haha, Ashley working on her tan. =P When are you two flying out for Hawaii???

Alright so here´s what happened over the last week. Tuesday we had interviews with Pres. Gálvez, and I´m happy to say I feel Pres. Gálvez is just who we need to lead this mission right now. I had a good talk with him in my interview about the situation with my companion and he gave me some good ideas on what I can do as junior comp to keep things moving and not let my comp´s "I don´t care attiude" get in the way of what we need to do. Zone Conference was Wednesday and I won´t lie, it was a little weird. Spirits seemed to be down, the APs presentation didn´t have any real direction or message, and the APs themselves seemed to be a little distant from us and themselves. It was...a little off to say the least. Pres. Gálvez finished the conference on a high note with his capacitation at least. =)

Thursday and Friday we had divisions with the zone leaders. I was with my district leader Elder Gonzalez both days in the Cañas area and Elder Zavala was with my comp in La Unión. I was hoping Zavala might be able to give my comp some ánimo buuut...yeah, not sure that happened. Gonzalez goes home in 2 weeks, so he´s been working on his final report twice a week in the mornings. Friday we went to internet for him to type a few things up, aaaaaaaaaand we found Zavala and Maradiaga already there...doing email...and watching YouTube...yeah... I decided I´m not going to wait for Maradiaga to shape up. If he´s not going to make decisions or work on his own, he´ll just have to follow me. I´m tired of wasting time in the park every day.

Saturday made up for it all though. A month ago I threw out the idea with do a talent show for the 2 branches. Well we had our Noche de Talentos Saturday night, and I had a blast. =D I taught my district an easy kadence from drumline, and then we danced to a mix that Litchfield threw together and I ended up coreogrphing (spelling???). "We Will Rock You", "Mr. Roboto", "Kung Fu Fighting", the weird Las Ketchup song Ashley always use to listen to, "The Macarena", "Cotton Eye Joe", and "Thriller". It was really funny, I had a blast doing it. I´ll be sending fotos and video of it all next week.

Alright I have to jet, we´re in San José right now (Elder Maradiaga had to finish his immigration papers) and we have to catch our bus in 20 minutes. I love you all and I hope you all have a grat week!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- I don´t know if you can, but could somebody look through my stuff and send me my little white MP3 player???

Reflect on Your Present Blessings...

So this last week helped clear the cloudy skies that the week before brought in. I was on divisiones with good old Elder Litchfield Thursday and Friday, and that was definately the medicine I needed. We worked hard and had a blast doing it. Litchfield is so cool, just another guy I´m going to be chilling with after the mission. =D We found a new investigador (POR FIN), and taught some really sick lessons together. I can´t say how grateful I am to have Litchfield with me here. Without question he´s my best friend here in the mission. From the fallout of the week before to how horrible last Monday night went (none of our citas were home) hanging out with Litchfield saved me. I´m really blessed to have him there to pick me up as my comp goes trunky on me.

I got the package on Tuesday! Thanks a ton for the books, they´ve been really interesting to look over. Especially the Missionary Tools booklet, some really good ideas in there. Sadly most of them are out of the question in Tico Land, but others I´ve modified and I´m gonna see how they work out with some members this week. The shoe laces came just in time, thank you so much for that. =)

As far as this week goes, we have interviews tomorrow and zone conference Wednesday. In other words, we´re finally going to meet Presidente Galvez! We´re all really interested and excited to see what happens. Oh yeah, almost forgot! This Saturday we´re having a Talent Show activity. I offered up the idea a few weeks ago and the District President loved the idea, so every group in both branches (young men, young women, priesthood, relief society, and Los Elderes =D) is going to do something. I taught elders Maradiaga, Litchfield, and Gonzalez something from my drumline days, and then Litchfield threw together a dance mix and had me come up with a dance for all of us to do (yay drama!...yeah...). No one is ever going to forget us here, that´s for sure. I´m going to take video to send you guys. It´s going to be pretty hilarious.

Still on the search for a family. My comp still doesn´t want to knock doors...and no one ever has references...so I´m talking to everyone I can in the park. Someone has to invite to their house! I talk to 12 people a day, 7 days a week in the park. More often than not more than that. The odds of someone saying "yes" are not that far fetched, am I right??? =P

All right nothing much else from my side of the woods. I hope everyone is doing well and has a great week. I love you all and know that I´m working hard and I´m very, VERY grateful for all your prayers. It´ll all pay off soon, I know it will.

In parting I´ll leave you with some words from my good friend Charles Dickens which also helped lift my spirits this week. =)

"Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."

I love you all!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

These Are The Times That Try Mens Souls

Nothing special to report on my 4th of July. Just work as usual for us. Elder Maradiaga is suffering from mid-mission crisis has I´ve started calling it. He just doesn´t have the desire to work, and I´m running out of ideas on how to animate the guy. All I can do is get my contacts in for the day, and try to keep him from visiting the same menos activo family more than twice a week. Still haven´t found a family...but my comp hasn´t wanted to go looking either. It´s more of a disappointment than disheartening for me. I want to work, and work hard. But my comp doesn´t share my interest right now.

As I said not much to say about this week because not much happened. =( The ZLs are planning a Zone Activity for the last week of this month...a temple trip. I´d love to go, but at the end of the month a trip to San José is impossible. There´s no way we´ll have money enough to do it. We´ll just have to see what happens I guess.

Well I´ve spent this last week thinking about my situation and my companion´s lack of will. This shows just how much of a nerd I am when the first thing that popped into my head is a quote from Thomas Paine:

¨The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.¨

Well, I´m definately in conflict right now. But it´s all too true. Anything and everything I´ve ever worked for was the much sweeter when it finally happened. That year long fight to get out here in the first place has made it virtually impossible to disanimate me. The 3 months of hard, hard work paid of in th baptism of Andres. And now? Truthfully this is the hardest things have been for me in the mission. This week was the first time I´ve had someone openly yell and cuss me out. Not a pleasant experience to say the least, but to ignore an insult is the true test of courage. And through it all, if by some miracle I find that family that we so desperately need right now, it´ll be reason to celebrate.
Because right now I just want someone to talk to. Who will listen with an open heart, and accept the what we have to offer. Right now that´s what I want more than anything else in the world. I just want someone to help. Because that´s what I´m here for, that´s WHO I am. And to talk to every soul that passes through the park as my comp watches from a bench and come up empty handed at the end of the day is MORE than enough reason to call it quits and go home. But I can´t do that, nor will I. If I joined my comp on the bench I´d not only let myself down, or everyone else back home, but those I was specially sent to help here. And that´s something I refuse to let happen without a fight.

*sigh* It´s been a long week. What can I say?

I hope everyone back home is doing fine. I love you all. =)
Take care and I´ll write, as always, next week. Cuidense.


Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Just Another Week in Paradise

Well here´s the scoop from this last week. Talking with Hno. Crane and his wife was awesome. We met up with them in the park and just talked about our experiences in the mission so far and what they´ve been up to since we left back in November. They came down just to visit us, my group from the MTC. Apparently we were Hno. Crane´s favorites, or so his wife told us. She said every group after us got an earful about us every day. =P It was really cool to talk with them though. =)

Changes this last week came and went. My new zone leader is........ELDER ZAVALA! AGAIN! I was so stoaked when I heard that, he´s such a cool guy. I can´t wait to go on divisions with him. =D We´re patiently awaiting the arrival of Pres. Galvez this Wednesday. I really don´t know what to expect with the change, I guess we´ll just wait and see what happens.

My comp is getting a little lazy……I think the knowledge he´s gonna be in this area for 6 months total is getting to him. Our numbers last week were horrible, but my district leader Elder Gonzalez told me if I´m doing my part he´s got my back. I´m junior comp, but I´ve pretty much been senior comp these last 6 weeks. But there´s only so much I can do to animate Elder Maradiaga. All I can do is my part and keep on keepin on. We´ll see how things play out.
In truth I just want to find new people to teach, but contacting in the street only goes so far. And I can´t get Elder Maradiaga to knock doors to save my life right now. I don´t know if I told you guys, but back in my first area I put goals I wanted to accomplish throughout the mission. The mission goal is 1000 baptisms for the year, and since May we´ve been in 2x2x2 (2 baptisms for May, 2 for June, and 2 for July) in preparation for Pres. Galvez. But along with those I set my own goals, one of which was to baptize a future missionary which I accomplished in the baptism of Andres. =D
Now? I want to baptize a family. But that´s only going to happen if we do our part in finding people, and right now as a team that´s not really happening… =( Right now the branch is really desanimado with so few baptisms over the years. Things picked up a bit when we dunked Andres, so imagine what a whole family would do in reenergizing things here! I´m gonna need all the prayers I can get to find, teach, and baptize a family in the next 6 weeks. 6 weeks isn´t a lot of time, but it´s far from impossible. All we need is a little faith and things will fall into place. But with that faith we need to do our part, and that´s where I´m struggling right now with my comp getting desanimado and without a desire to work. =( Yeah…I´m gonna need some prayers in the coming weeks. =D

I´m putting together a package to send you guys, but I´m faulting a few things I want to send and Cañas is far from a good place to find trinkets and stuff. Not sure when I´ll get it in the mail…but it´ll get in the mail…eventually. =P
As far as packages from you guys goes…well I haven´t gotten anything in 6 weeks because I´m 4 freaking hours from San José, and almost 3 from the ZLs. The package you sent has probably been sitting in the office for a good month now, but I most likely won´t see it until Zone Conference in a few weeks. At least I hope I´ll get it then. The APs brought the wrong mail last time (for a different zone). 6 weeks without mail has been very, very sad. =P

Anyways I better jet but I love you all and I´ll talk to you next week! Ciao!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Baptized by the Rain of Costa Rica

Wish Dad a happy belated Father´s Day, I´m gonna try to put a package in the mail for you guys sometime this week...or next...not entirely sure yet. Glad to hear everyone is doing well por la menos. I hope you foot heals up quickly before Hawaii Mom!

Soooo first off, none of us here in Cañas have changes so we have another 6 weeks of the Fantastic Four rocking Cañas like only we can. =P Por la menos, my comp and I are planning on 3 baptisms this change. We have on set for the 18th of July, and we´re still working with Juan Carlos and another lady named Johana that we found about 2 weeks ago. Juan Carlos was suppose to go to church with us buuuut when we passed by yesterday morning he was still sleeping... que barbaridad. Oh well, there´s always work to be done. The end of this month is the goal for Juan Carlos and Johana. Johana´s a little crazy…a little…but she´s asking the right questions and is really receptive so I have high hopes there. =)

Now this email was going to be named “Miracles” buuuuuut the title I gave it was mas tuanis and fit perfectly. You´ll see why.

Saturday was the baptism for Andres. After 3 months things were paying off. After English classes Saturday afternoon we opened up the fount, cleaned it out, and were about to fill it up when we found out the worst:
There was hardly any running water in the chapel. A Super Soaker could put out more water than the faucet in the fount was, not even joking. So we threw the hose from outside into the fount (which was putting out even less water than the faucet) and I starting filling up little trash cans with water from another faucet outside. After an hour we had maybe an inch and a half of water. It was 2 p.m. and the baptism was at 7 p.m. At this rate we were never going to fill the fount. That´s when God stepped in, having heard our pitiful prayers, and did what only He could do:

He made it rain.

I´ve seen really, REALLY hard rain here, but Saturday was the hardest storm I´ve ever seen, EVER. After an hour and a half we had 2 feet of water in the fount. I was running back and forth dragging bucket after bucket of water into the fount. I felt like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia as we tried to do all we could to fill the fount with RAIN. The rain ended around 3:30 p.m. but we still faulted a lot. We went back to trying with the little faucet outside the church and the hose but it just wasn´t doing it. Then came the rain one more time, even harder than the first. Hour and a half more and the fount was full., 90% of the water having fallen from the heavens. But it was done. Elder Maradiaga baptized Andres, I directed the meeting, and more people showed up to this one baptism than the last 4 I´ve had. But if not for the miracle of that storm, it wouldn´t have happened. I can even begin to describe how happy and grateful I was. Andres, in all honesty, was baptized by the rains of Costa Rica.

That was Saturday. Sunday we went to Upala, the closed area we´re incharge of, and meet with the family we´re teaching out there and the menas activa we visit as well. Upala is a good 2 hour bus ride from Cañas, and only an hour from Nicaragua. Just to give you an idea of how out of the way it is out there. But meeting with our family and the menas activa we set our goal for Upala as well. We´re going to try and do all we can to start up the Group in Upala otra vez, but to do it we need priesthood. That´s why Upala was closed in the first place: There´s not a soul up there with the priesthood. There´s a lot of work to do up there, and we can only visit once every 3 weeks for only 3 hours. It´s NOT going to be easy, but it´s why we´re here.

On the flip side, today is a chill P-Day for us. We don´t have anywhere to go or visit, but today is going to be weird to say the least. Why? Well, Thursday I was on divisions with Elder Litchfield and that night we got a phone call…from the APs. Our first thought was “Ummm…did we do something wrong???” But that wasn´t the case at all. Guess who´s in Costa Rica and is coming to visit Litchfield and I today with his new wife? None other than Hno. Crane, our teacher from the MTC.

…I already feel like the MTC was only like 3 months ago…yeah…

The APs gave us the number to call Hno. Crane and talk about déjà vu. Litchfield and I started laughing after we talked to Hno. Crane, it was just too weird. We´re meeting up with Hno. Crane at 1:30 p.m. today. I´ll let you know what happens next week.

As far as mail goes I haven´t seen a letter, let alone a package for 6 weeks. We got jipped this change with NO MAIL whatsoever. …Not cool… We probably won´t see mail until Zone Conference in like 2 or 3 weeks. A change without mail is a hard thing indeed, but it´ll be like Christmas when I finally get it. =D

Alright I better jet but I hope all is well back home and that you guys have a great week. Tell Logan I wish him a happy birthday and that I´m still waiting on those scripture covers for him. He´ll probably get them for his Christmas present. =P

I love you all!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Baptism Anyone?

I hope you can get that cast off soon for Hawaii Mom!!!
You read a 500 page book in one day??? That´s something I´d do and have done. But I didn´t do it out of boredom, I´m just a nerd like that. Oh yeah, I said something so nerdy today I had Elder Litchfield on the ground he was laughing so hard. I´m so glad to have that kid in my district, we have a good time.
HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY DEREK!!!! Can´t believe he turns 19 Saturday. That´s insane.

The mission activity last week was awesome. It was great to see my MTC district, along with all my friends here in the mission. I talked to Elder Tagliaferri and it looks like things are pretty much the same as when I left. He´s baptized 6 in Barrio Tibas (the closed area) and only 1 in Barrio Garabito. It was good to hear how everyone is doing in my old area nonetheless. It´s a ways off, but if you guys decide to come and get me at mission´s end, we need to visit some of those families. =)
As far as the new mission president goes, I haven´t heard much. All I really know is Presidente Galvez ended his mission when I was born. =P My comp knows a bit more about him than I do, but not by much. Pres. Galvez was a branch president in the Guatemala MTC, but Elder Maradiaga only saw him like 3 times. Nothing drastic has changed as far as I can tell, but it´ll be interesting to see what changes do end up taking place.

Another week passes by, and we´re that much closer to the end of the change. Time just flies, it´s incredible. This week we´ve been battling with the Zone Leaders and their want of numbers. Honestly I don´t see why they´re being so pushy right now, every week our numbers get better and better as we pick up the pieces from past elders. I´m just gonna focus on the work and what the area needs most from us right now. Which brings me to this week´s highlight story: I´M BAPTIZING!!!!
This Saturday is Andres´ baptism, POR FIN!!!! We´ve been working with him for 3 months but finally things are paying off. The first baptism in the branch since a year and a half ago, and we´ve got more we´re planning on. Our main focus this week, aside from Andres, is Juan Carlos. He found new work so that he could come to church Sundays, understood everything about the Plan of Salvation even before we got halfway through it, and he wants to take us fishing on our P-Day in a few weeks. =P
We´re going to see what he thinks of baptism when we see him this Thursday. Wish us luck!

The 4 of us here in Cañas are a bit jumpy right now. Changes are next week, and although none of us SHOULD have changes, you never really know what´s going to happen. Either Elder Litchfield or I could go. Litchfield because his companion goes home in 6 weeks, so they might have someone new come in who´ll have to learn the area, therefore keeping Elder Gonzalez. Or I could go, but who knows. We´ll find out Sunday night what the scam is.

We tried, once again, to visit the place with all the cave paintings but rotton luck struck again. Our best bet is in 2 weeks, but again there´s the chance Litchfield or I won´t be here to go. =( However, we did find the next best thing. An animal reserve, full of parrots, tucans, lynxs, pumas, monkeys, and jaguars. I got some pretty sweet pictures I´ll have to send. All in all it´s been a good day. =)

I´m finally feeling comfortable with the language. These last 2 months I´ve felt like I know the language well enough, but knowing and feeling comfortable are 2 things entirely different. Feeling comfortable for me is being able to express myself in spanish just as well as I can in english. To me, words are power. And if I can speak with force and verb, clearly, powerfully, and backed by the Spirit, there´s nothing I can´t do. I know there´s always going to be more to learn, but I feel really good with how I´ve progressed so far. =)

Alright I´ve gone on long enough. I hope everyone is doing well and that this week finds you all healthy and happy. I´m doing great, working hard, and will be celebrating along with you guys Saturday (Derek´s b-day, Andres´ baptism). I love you all and I´ll talk to you next week! Ciao!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- The Zits comics were a breath of fresh air. I wouldn´t mind getting those every week...if, you know, you can... =D
P.P.S.- What´s the chance I could get a Chile Selection Futbol Jersey??? An ex-missionary from Chile was at the activity last Monday and he was wearing one... =P

Good Morning Monday

¡Buenos Días! We have an mission-wide activity in San José today so I´m writing a bit earlier than usual today. First I´m gonna start with a more private note on what I said about last week. I´m not sure why I´ve always faulted confindence in myself. It´s nothing that anyone has ever said to me, but as far as I can remember I´ve always dropped myself a few steps below the crowd. It´s just something I´m going to have to work to change, and the mission is the best place for me to do that. I like the idea of taking up that challenge of doing something dificult for me every day. That´s a good way to shrug off the fear I might have. For the last week any time I´ve been contacting or knocking doors, and I feel a little unsure, I just say to myself "No Fear" and do it. If I ever train in the mission, I´m gonna make that the number one thing I teach my "kid" as we call it. That and one other thing I´ve been thinking about this last week...

Whew, this week has flown by. Some weeks fly, others drag. I have yet to figure out how or why. =P Well a lot happened this week. Well kind of, it might be better to say I´ve had a lot on my mind this week. Wednesday my new zone leader Elder Lee came to Cañas, so I was on divisions for 2 days yet again. Wednesday I was with Elder Gonzalez again, and right off the back he told me I was teaching everything for the day with little or no help from him. I was all game for it. =D I felt pretty good about Wednesday. Yeah, most of our citas fell through but the lesson we did teach were great, an I felt really good about the Family Home Evening we had with some members and our baptism, Andres. That night was the Costa Rica versus U.S.A game, so trying to work was pretty much useless. Andres invited us to watch the game with him and his family, and we took the opportunity to visit will all of his family for once. Andres´ mom is inactive, as is his aunt and older brother. I feel good when I hit it off with a family really well, and I definetly won their confidence. =) Too bad the U.S. lost the game. =P

Thursday is a different story. I was with Elder Lee, and I got to see what kind of missionary the man is. He´s only got a year in the mission, and although we got along great, our focus and point-of-views here in the mission coudn´t be more opposite. Elder Lee has good intentions, but after all is said and done, he´s working for numbers, not for the people. At least that´s how it came across. Here´s why I say that. We started knocking some doors after our first 2 citas of the day fell through. We found this older Nicaraguan lady and starting teaching outside her house. Well she wasn´t paying attention, didn´t hear when we asked questions or anything. So as I was about to wrap up and leave, Elder Lee cut in. This lady had been agreeing with everything we´d been saying without listening to any of it, so Lee decided to have some fun with her. He flat out asked her that if our church is the true church, would she be baptized. Now that´s not a bad thing to do in other situations, but with this lady not listening to anything we said, it didn´t serve any real purpose. Lee did it to comply with our "1 baptism challenge a day" that HE challege us to do. Well the lady said yes to his challenge, and he put a fecha with her for the 27th of this month.
When Elder Maradiaga and I passed by the next day like we promised, she told us not to come back.

The whole day with Lee was just him asking how our numbers for the day were, and it got me thinking about some things. In the training we had with Elder Cook of the Twelve back weeks back, he recounted to us how Preach My Gospel came about. Before PMG, missionaries memorized the lessons and gave them by rote. President Hinckley, when he realized this, immediately set out to change this, because the lessons weren´t meant to be memorized, but to be taught by the Spirit.
The pre-written lessons were meant to give a guideline of how and what to teach, but in time they became things to memorize. The numbers and goals we have now are meant to help us work to our fullest, but in time missionaires have turned their focus from the quality of their work to the quantity.
I first started to see it with Elder Tagliaferri, who, when we were faulting lessons, would go to the park and teach some drunks. Elder Lee made me think about it even more. Like I said, the numbers are meant to help us work harder, but there are a lot of missionaries here who forget that. And in fear of getting their heads chopped for not making goal, work only for numbers out of that fear. And to that I say:

I AM A MISSIONARY OF JESUS CHRIST, NOT OF NUMBERS.

I´m looking for those who have been prepared to recieve the message we bring, and I´m working for QUALITY, not quantity. That´s why we´re here in the first place. We were called to serve not to help with a mission´s numbers, but to invite people to come unto Christ.

This is something I´m not going to forget. When all is said and done, numbers don´t matter. All that matters is the people you helped.

Okay I have to jet. I love you all and I hope everything is good and well back home. I´ll write again next week with fotos from today´s activity. =) Take care! I love you all!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie