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!