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

"Vamos a bautizar con fervor!"

You broke your foot!?!?!? What happened? I´m sorry to hear about that. I´m glad the neighbors have been there to help, we have a great neighborhood now. =)
I am glad however to hear that Dad could finally get back to work and that he´s happy about it too. Tell Ashley and Logan I wish them luck on their finals. School is almost over for the year isn´t it??? Freak, where has the year gone? Time is flying by and I´m not even paying attention to it.
Haha, Dinner has met it´s maker. I´m not sure whether I´m laughing cause that rooster is STILL hanging around Grandma and Grandpa´s or because of the shear irony the name I gave it sealed it´s fate. =P

Alright, here´s the scoop for the week. Tuesday we had our final interviews with Presidente Arbizú, and Wednesday at Zone Conference Presidente, Hna. Arbizú, and their daughter all gave their final testimonies to Zona Norte. It´s sad to see them go, and weird to think I´ve only known them for 6 months. Presidente Arbizú is so awesome, I never get tired of hearing him speak. My final interview with him was really cool, the message he had for me was something I really needed to hear and to think about. I´ll get to that later. They also showed us a quick powerpoint presentation about Presidente Galvez and his family. We´re all excited and scared at the same time for the new mission president. We´re interested in seeing what might be changed, but we´re all scared that Changes Meeting might be done away with as we know it. I´ve heard it said if that happens there might be a small revolt... =P I don´t know, I´m curious to see what happens.

Tuesday through Thursday I was on divisions with my district leader, Elder Gonzalez. Wow, talk about a man who knows how to teach! I´ve never been more amazed in my life, I tried to learn as much from him in those days as I could. But ultimately he told me there´s only one thing I really need to learn, and it was the same thing Presidente Arbizú addressed to me. NO FEAR. I don´t know if it´s been because I´ve felt unsure about my language abilities or self-conscience about myself or what, but I really have been a little more timid than I have been for a long while. Elder Gonzalez told me that anything he did in the days I was with him, I could do just as well. Anything he said, I could´ve said. I understand everything I hear, I have no problems speaking, it´s all just in my head. After divisions, everything changed for me.
My companion Elder Maradiaga is pretty quiet, I don´t know if I´ve mentioned this before. I can barely hear him most of the time when he talks because he´s so quiet, almost a whisper. The last 3 days of the week I changed how I do things personally. I´ve been doing all the planning and stuff anyway, but I have something now I was faulting before: CONFIDENCE! In those 3 days I can see the change for myself. Our numbers were so much higher, we contacted so many more people, taught so many more lessons in one day than we had prior, and I put a fecha for baptism on my own. I feel like I finally kicked the training wheels off. =P

All in all I feel good, and I have high hopes for this month. You can tell Derek I´m baptizing for his birthday. =P I put a fecha with Andres, our 13 year old skater boy, for June 20th. He was super excited and I feel really good with where he´s at. This week we´re focusing on fellowshipping a bit more with him and some members that live close by.
Also we´re teaching a 16 year old kid named Robin, but we´ve hit a brick wall with him at the moment. His mom won´t let us pass by the house, so we´ve been teaching him in the house of some members. Yesterday he told us that his mom won´t give him permission to be baptized, which is the first thing he told us he wanted when we started teaching him. In this case the only power we have is that of prayer: but oh what a power that is. I KNOW with everything in me we can baptize Robin before I leave the area, but I´m gonna need your prayers to make that happen. But it WILL happen. =)
One the flip side we have 2 other people we´re teaching I´m going to need some prayerful help as well. One is a 23 year old guy named Juan Carlos, the other a 19 year old girl named Pamela, but they both need the same thing and have the same desire: To learn more and gain a testimony of their own. Juan Carlos found a new job so that he could go to church Sundays, and we´re having a Family Home Evening with some members tonight with Pamela. I have high hopes for both of them because they both want to know for themselves if what we´re teaching is true, they have a desire to learn and to know. We just need to pray that they´ll be able to feel and understand the answer to their prayers.
All in all, things are starting to turn around here. =D

We´ve also been working on gaining the confidence of the members, which with previous missionaries seems to have been lost. We´ve started with our branch president and his family, and little by little I can see that they´re opening up to us. It´s a good feeling when the members invite you over to their house for a change. =D

Ummm…oh yeah, I´ll give you the run down on the English classes I´m teaching. For starters, there´s a reason I never, EVER want to teach grade school, and my classes here just help to reinforce that reason. LITTLE KIDS ARE CRAZY!!!!! I´m teaching SEVEN little kids ages 9-12 english.
…yeah…good luck with that… =P
There are 2 kids that really want to learn, and they know quite a bit already. But the other 5…yeah…yeah…about that. =P The classes are fun nonetheless, I always feel good afterwards and when I see my students in the street. They call me “Profi”.
…yeah…I feel cool. =D

Alright well I don´t have much else to say…which is good because I´m pretty sure I just hit 3 pages with this email. =P The shoe laces on my Doc Boots snapped a few days ago. I managed to “repair” them as only a guy can. Just think about that for a minute… =P Hopefully I´ll get the package soon. Next Monday we´re having a mission-wide activity in San José, and we have permission to go (some areas are too far from San José to go and return in 1 day, so we got lucky being 3 hours from the city). I´m pretty sure I´ll get the package there…I think… We´ll just have to wait and see. =P

Oh yeah, guess what? I turn 21 in 3 months! How bout them apples? =P

Alright I better jet before I write anything more and meaningless on top of that. I love you all and I hope everyone is doing well. Tell everyone I say hi and that I´m working hard and loving life. Take care and I´ll talk to you next week. =)

Your Son,
Elder Nunie