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.