¡CAMBIOS!

Alright for first off, I´ve got Changes! We got the call last night and I´m leaving Thursday. I have mixed feelings about leaving right now. I´m excited for a change and everyone, I thrive off changes, we know this, but we just started to get things rolling with the ward and everything here in Garabito but hey, it happens. I´m a little nervous about where I might be headed though. We don´t find out until Thursday at Changes meeting so I´ll be writing next week about where I am and all that.
Here´s the scoop on how Changes meeting works here. First off, everyone who has changes meets in the stake center closest to the mission office. Most of the time anyone who is in the San José Valley is invited to the Changes meeting too. Anyways, everyone meets up there, President talks about the last month and what the numbers were (our goal for the year is 1000 baptisms) and then the lights go out, and Changes begins. President sets up a projector and he goes zone by zone, district by district, area by area. It´s like being on a game show, I´m not even joking. An area comes up and President will say something like "And in area Garabito we have Elder Núñez, and he´ll be receiving his new companion...ELDER BLAH BLAH!" And everyone goes nuts and yells and cheers and it´s just a bunch of crazy. Everyone looks forward to Changes meetings, they´re just a lot of fun.
Keep me updated on John, that´s amazing that he finished the Book of Mormon already. I wish we had Ticos that diligent. =P I´m glad Dad is able to keep himself busy again, I know just sitting around not doing anything just drives him nuts. I hope you have fun with Aunt Marsha! Well I know you will anyway but, you know, enjoy the time with your sister being all...well, being all sisterly and girly and all. =P
I can´t believe that little hen is laying eggs for Grandpa now, how random is that? And now there´s a rooster! Granpda is gonna have a farm again if this keeps up!
I do get Dad´s fotos aaaaaaaand the one of you made me miss you...and pies. A lot. When I get home I´m eating nothing put your pies for a whole week, maybe even too. Vamos a ver pero...sí...I miss your pies. Tico deserts just don´t do it for me para nada. Except for Tres Leches...Mmmmmmm...that´s a treat. Maybe you could find a recipe for that too. It´s amazing. =P
Anyways not much else going on besides...well besides what I´ve already said. Tell Tiara and Ken I say hi! They´re so awesome, I´m glad they´re in your ward. Tell the family I love them and I hope everything is going well. I´m alive and well, so no need to worry about me. I´ll write again next week with the results of Cambios. =D I´m so freaking nervous but I can´t wait!
I love you! Take care and I´ll talk to you next week!
-Elder Nunie
P.S.- I get to call home this next change! Just a heads up!

Got Lost in the Jungle Today...

Whew, another week gone. This change has flown by, I only have one full week left! I won´t know for sure until next Sunday but we figure I´m gonna be changed out this time, but we´ll see what happens. I could pull 6 months in my first area, it´s not unheard of. It´s rare, but it´s not unheard of.

Have you guys talked with the missionaries about visiting John? If you do make sure you are there with them! I´m learning things are so much easier when members are present at a lessons. The Spirit is stronger, testimonies of members are more powerful, things are just better with member. And with my current ward here we´re working to give the members ánimo for missionary work, because truth be told us missionaries can´t do this on our own. It´s like swimming up river, it just doesn´t happen.

Alright so I do have a bit of news this week. Even if I don´t change areas this time round, we more than likely will be changing houses. We´ve recently discovered that our area is twice if not 3 times bigger than what Elder DePriest had shown me when I was with him. Because of this, we usually don´t get into the house until 9 p.m. on the dot. Johnny Wong, our dueño, got use to us being in the house at 8:30 p.m. Then, there are times on the weekends we can´t come home for lunch. Apparently all this as gotten to him, and he´s not selling us food anymore. Nothing. That´s really the only reason we´re in that house to begin with, soooooo we´re going to be looking for a new place. On the other hand, we were talking to one of the APs last night, and he asked us if we would like to change wards from Barrio Garabito to Barrio Tibas, which is the currently one of the closed areas in our zone. We´ve had 2 baptisms in Tibas, Fabiola who was my first baptism and then José Chaves who we baptized Saturday, both being referrals from members, and the members have been really helpful with everything, the complete opposite of what we´re experiencing in Garabito. So no matter what, things are gonna be changing up around here. I´m gonna have to start buying groceries...weird... =P

I hit 6 months tomorrow. I can´t believe I´ve been gone for that long already, time´s passing faster than I can keep track off. These last 5 weeks have been the fastest par none though. But wow, a quarter of the mission is already past. It´s weird to think about, it really doesn´t seem that long. I think it´s all in the mindset though. If you keep thinking it´ll be forever, it will be. If you keep counting the minutes and the days things will just slow down on you. I haven´t been paying attention to the time at all, I can´t believe I´ve been gone anything longer than 2 months. I´ve come to understand it all comes down to how you think about it. Something you said in your email caught my mind. You said something about sacrificing 2 years of my life. I remember the first talk I heard at my first EFY almost 6 years ago. The speaker was saying the 2 years we serve as missionaries shouldn´t be considered a "sacrifice" by any means, but more like paying back an I.O.U. We´re blessed with so many things in our lives, freak we´re given LIVES in the first place, we owe our Father in Heaven more than all of us put together can pay back, but that doesn´t mean we can´t try to pay back the debt. And the 2 years of missionary service is one way we can.

A few more fotos from today. One is from our baptism this last weekend, and then today we went to a national park and got lost for 2 hours. It was pretty funny, walking around with machetes, screaming like wild men. Good times. =)

Anyway that´s all the news I have for the week. Enjoy the fotos, just some shots from the Temple last Wednesday. =)
I love you all and I hope everything is going well. Take care and I´ll talk to you next week!
-Elder Nunie

¡Pura Vida!

¡Pura Vida!

So Thomas is going to Korea? Wow, I hope he's ready for 12 weeks in the MTC. 9 weeks just about drove me insane. =P But, go ahead and pass a message onto him about the food. MTC food is great for like the first 3 weeks, but after that you realize they just rotate meals on you like high school. Best thing to do in the MTC is to eat an amazing temple meal before or after your session. My district had temple breakfast every Tuesday morning, and it was by all means the best part of the week. =P

I MISS YOUR PIES!!!!! Yeah, DePriest and I did end up making a banana cream pie for New Years. Buuuut, it wasn't the same. I figure when I get home I'll just eat your pies for 2 months straight. Mmmmmm....pie....

Anyways, in other news, did I mention we have a baptism this Saturday? =D His name is José Chavez and he's golden. It's a great feeling to find someone who's been ready and prepared to recieve the message of the Restoration. We still have a montón of things to teach him before Saturday, but all in all it's been a good week.
Thursday and Friday we went on divisions with the zone leaders. I went to Coronado with Elder Zavala of Honduras. It was kinda funny, I wasn't worried about my spanish at all and I was right not too. I had a great 2 days with Elder Zavala, he's so awesome. I felt especially happy that my spanish is where it's at for only having not even 4 months in the country. But, we never had trouble understanding each other and we ended up telling stories from home and the mission. I know I still have some work, but for where I'm at with the language I'm pleasently surprised. =D
¿Qué más? Ummm, oh did I ever tell you Ticos are white? It threw some of the other guys in my MTC district for a loop when we first got here, but that's why I've had people ask me if I'm Tico. I figure once I get a hold of the language more and FINALLY develop an accent I could tell people I'm actually from Costa Rica. =P
Oh snap, have I told you about gallo pinto??? Snap, Mom you should make this for a family breakfast some time, it's great! Whenever missionaries have a chance to eat pinto we jump on it! It's this rice and bean combination that's just really good, along with a side of scrambled egg and what not. Everyone makes it differently here with their own twists and stuff, but I haven't had a bad batch yet. At the end of the mission, missionaries put together a final report and part of the final report is a list of attributes we want our future wives to posses. Every final report I've seen says they want their wives to learn how to make pinto. It's awesome! =D
Anyway, in other news there was another earthquake a few days ago. Nothing major, it was a lot farther away this time and there wasn't much damage even though it was a lot more powerful than the last. My comp Elder Tagliaferri was freaked though, he hates quakes. I guess I weirded him out with how calm I was when it happened. I just kinda looked up and said "Hmph, that's cool." =P
Alright well I don't have much else to say about my week, just work as usual. I did get a letter from Kiah Richardson yesterday at stake conference. That was great surprise. =)
I do have one request though if it's possible. There's a CD called Solace by my friend Emily Peck I kinda want to have.
Alright well I better jet! I love you and I hope everything is going well! I'll talk to you next week!
-Elder Nunie

Setting New Goals

Alright, first off, glad to hear Dad is taking it easy and not over doing it. I´ve been worried he´ll hurt himself worse so good to hear he´s doing okay and that the neighbors are as awesome as they are. That makes me happy. =)
Tell Ashley good luck from me and I´ll be praying for her. That´d be so awesome if she gets elected ASB Vice-Pres, she´d have fun with that. I don´t know if I told you this already but my zone leader Elder Howell saw one of the pictures of Ashley and Spencer and said "You´re sister looks like she´d punch anyone in the face." I laughed, because she really would. =P
How´s Logan doing with school and all that? Is he doing alright without any of his big brothers around???
We had a correlation meeting yesterday aaaaand yeah. When we talked to the bishop about calling a ward mission leader it went like this.
Us: Hey bishop, we really want a mission leader.
Bishop: Yeah, so do I. *laughs*...
That was it. I don´t know, it´s hard to organize anything with the ward without any help from it. Elder Tagliaferri and I have made it our goal for this change to open the closed area, Tibas, because the members there deserve missionaries like none other while our ward just doesn´t seem to care. Tibas brings investigators to church, gives us references, and we set a baptismal date yesterday with a guy we´ve only met with 3 times! The difference between wards is a stark black and white. We´re trying new things to get our assigned ward animated, but we´ll see with time if anything starts to happen like it should be.
Oh freak, I totally forgot Randall Hansen would only be in the MTC for 3 weeks!!! Lucky guy, being there for 2 months drives a man nuts. Visa for Spain takes a while though. My buddies there got their calls 6 months before they had to report to the MTC so there wouldn´t be too much of a wait for the Visa.
I miss the Zits comic! If you could, you know, mail little strips to me, THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!! =D =D =D That would be totally and utterly amazing. Just a little piece from home. =) I´ve come to notice nothing really makes me trunky. "Trunky" is the term we use for someone who misses home so much they don´t want to work very much, or they just talk about how much they miss home ALL THE FREAKING TIME. I think because it took me so freaking long to get out here I´m immune to trunkiness for the time being, cause I can talk about stuff from home and it doesn´t phase me, but my new comp just gets depressed. Girls really make him trunky...yeah...it´s not good...oh well.
Anyway what else? Oh yeah, you asked me why I said "dump"? That´s something I picked up from DePriest. There is always some saying you pick up from your comps or other missionaries you around. "Dump" is just one of those things I´ve picked up. It´s not Costa Rican slang, that´s for sure. Costa Rican slang is like "¡TOME CHI CHI!" That´s pretty much like saying "Take it!" Most missionaires say that. Or there´s the national slogan "Pura Vida". It´s the same as saying "pece" but you see it EVERYWHERE. T-shirts, posters, mugs, EVERYTHING. Everyone and their dog says it. Not even joking. =P
AND WHAT THE FREAK! IT´S SNOWING AGAIN!!!!!! That´s just not right. It always snows when I´m not there, I swear. =P
Oh yeah about the picture with my mission pres...I never got one. Like they took the picture and all buuuut I never got a copy of it. I guess I should ask about that, huh?
Alright well I better jet but I love you and I hope everything is going well and everyone is okay. Thanks for sending me Mychael´s and Audre´s addresses! I´ll be sure to write them today. =) Take care and I´ll talk to you next week!
¡Pura Vida!
Elder Núñez

The start of a new month...

Whew, sounds like a lot is going on back home. I´m glad to hear Derek is doing better with school and stuff and that it looks like he´s gonna stick with it. That´s awesome. =) So Ashley is taking college courses huh? That´s awesome, and that´s great she´s already thinking of what she wants to do. It´s usually best to figure that out your junior year so that senior year all you need to focus on is senior activities aaaaaand what college to go to. ...Freak Ashley´s gonna be graduated when I get home...that´s just weird. The social part of junior high is tough stuff, no doubt about it. But I know Logan can pull through. He just needs to find something to keep himself active in school and then things will just fly by. I´m glad you´re able to find things to keep you occupied, Mom. I can just see you playing with a bunch of junk making stuff. It makes me laugh. =P That stinks that Dad can´t do Christmas in Action, I know he usually enjoys that. I hope he stays careful and doesn´t overwork that arm of his. I know Dad isn´t the kind of guy to take it easy for so long but he´s gonna have to for the time being. Which stinks, but stuff happens.
Alright, so here´s the news for the week. One, I´M A TICO NOW! Friday I got my residency, so I´m an official Tico until March of 2011!!! My new companion Elder Tagliaferri is quite the character. He´s still really young in the mission (he only has 6 months in the country), and I´ve noticed he gets kinda frustrated when talking to Ticos who are set in their ways, but he´s a good guy. Sometimes it feels like I´m babysitting an 8 year old though, not gonna lie. Don´t think I hate my comp, he´s awesome, but there are times he´ll say things where all I can do is put my head in my hands and laugh. We have set a goal for this change though. With DePriest, we never, not even once, worked with the members in our ward. Partially because our ward is dump, and secondly because DePriest didn´t want to deal with them. Well Tagliaferri and I are trying to find ways to animate the ward along with other ways to find people to teach, such as english classes. We´re gonna try to start some english classes within the next week or 2 and hopefully this will help us find new people to teach, along with getting members involved. Our leadership in the ward really needs a change though, our bishop is totally unreliable. The man showed up at church yesterday an hour late for crying out loud! Freak!
That´s absolutely nuts about the peanut butter scare in the states. Luckily for me, the rich Tico man we live with, Johnny Wong, buys us peanut butter. =D =D =D =D It´s scary to hear news about the economy (or lack thereof) back in the states. Hopefully things will pick up buuuuut yeah...things look pretty gloomy.
In other news I got another letter from Tylan last week! YEAH! Letters are like gold in the field, but you and dad already know that. =P
Oh yeah, can you see if you can get me cousin Michael´s mailing address so I can write him? And cousin Audrey too (Mandy´s daughter). That would be way cool if I could get to writing them. =D
Anyway I better jet. Take care and no worries about me, I´m doing great. Talk to ya next week!
Oh yeah, and about the shoes. My Doc Martin´s are still alive and kicking. The only thing I had to worry about are the insoles, the shoe itself is a monster....I still haven´t recieved the package yet buuuut tomorrow I have interviews with Pres. Arbizú so hopefully I´ll get it tomorrow. We´ll just have to wait and see!
-Elder Nunie