Wow, sounds like a lot has been going on this last week. Glad to hear Grandma´s surgery went well, and that Dad´s taking it easier at work. I hope it all works out and he can make it to summer without too much worry.
Alright, we´ve had a bit of a week ourselves. To start out, we stopped by this old black lady who speaks english on Tuesday just to see how she´s doing. Her name is Edith, and quite frankly she has no idea what´s going on around her. =P It was the first time I had met her, aaaand it was really funny. She was telling me how see met me when I was about 6 years old when I came to Costa Rica with my uncle who was a pastor...and that she use to babysit me...I just kinda nodded my head and was like "Really? Yeah I don´t remember!" ...Is that bad??? She´s so far out of it I just didn´t have the heart to tell her "NO! You´re worng!." =P
Nothing too eventful happened over the week, by things did start up Saturday around 2:30 a.m. Elder Logan woke me up saying "Elder, we need to go to the clinic, NOW." He was in major pain, like nothing I´ve ever seen before. I tried calling our district leader, but nobody answered. So I called Pres. Gálvez, told him what was happening and where we were going, and told him I´d call back when we´d reached the clinic. I gave Elder Logan a blessing before leaving the house, and we walked to a member´s place not to far from us. The brother-in-law had been woken up a few minutes before by some unknown reason, and he called us a taxi to the clinic. We got to the clinic about 3 a.m. A nurse examined Elder Logan in what I called a shady excuse for a medical clinic, and after some poking and guessing they gave him some shots and said it would be about an hour before the drugs would fully take effect and the pain would die down. They said it could either be apendisitis or a kidney stone, but they had no way to know for sure with what they had. I´ll be honest, the clinic here looked like an old war hospital like they had in in France during World War 2. Rundown, with some beds thrown in one room and very basic medical equipment. Very basic.
I called Pres. Gálvez again and explained what was going on and what the nurses said. I told him I´d call when the hour wait was over. I spent the next half hour praying until my mind finally shutdown again. At about 5 a.m. (2 hours later) we had about 20 minutes left before the "hour" wait would be up (riddle me that). I got to go in and talk with Elder Logan for a quick second. They had him hooked up to some plasma and the pain had passed. They nurses had decided he had a kidney stone, but we didn´t know how they came to the conclusion without any tests. =P
At 6 a.m. (3 hours later) the "hour" wait was up and Elder Logan was released. After calling Pres. Gálvez and letting him know Elder Logan was feeling better, we went straight to Iraydelis´ house (she´s now our breakfast cook), however around 8 a.m. the pain came back just as strong. We took a taxi to the house while Iraydelis and her daughter went to pick up the precriptions Elder Logan received at the clinic. We called Pres. Gálvez again, and he sent the APs out to bring us into San José. Elder Logan twisted and turned in bed groaning in pain while I tried calling our district leader again, of which no one could get ahold of, not even President. After talking with Pres. Gálvez we decided I was gonna go into San José with my companion, seeing how we didn´t have any real appointments set and it would just be easier that way. Iraydelis came by with the precriptions around 9:30 a.m. and the APs got to us around 10:30 a.m. We got to San José at noon and we went straight to the Clinica Biblica, the only real safe and CLEAN hospital in Costa Rica. Elder Logan stayed with Pres. Gálvez in the hospital waiting to see the doctors and I went to get some lunch with Elder Holt (one of the secretaries) and Elder Rojas (the new assistant, he´s from Santiago). At 1 p.m. we got back to the Clinica Biblica only to find President and Elder Logan STILL WAITING to see a doctor. At this point the pain had faded a bit to were he could bare with it. Finally Elder Logan and Pres. Gálvez went in to see the doctor, and I kind of chilled in the waiting room. Sleep didn´t really come at all, it was way too loud with TVs going, a ton of people waiting and talking, and a few dense americans yelling at the desk clerks because they couldn´t speak english.
At 4 p.m. Elder Logan got out from all the tests, received his drugs, and was told it was a kidney stone, but they weren´t sure if he still had it or if it had already passed. We were all a little lost on that one. President took us to his house afterwards, were the Hermana Gálvez had made us guatemalan soup for us. After eating President took us to the mission home were we tried to sleep a little before the APs and the secretaries came home. That night as we were getting ready for bed the pain came back again. Elder Logan passed the night on the downstairs couch twisting and turning in pain. The poor guy didn´t get a wink of sleep. Sunday morning he was still in major pain. I stayed in the house with him while everyone else went to church. Elder Logan finally got some sleep right before everyone got home from church. We started making a big lunch for everyone (mashed potatoes, breaded chicken, corn, etc.) and then everyone left to work again while we stayed locked up in the house. We tried to keep ourselves entertained but there´s really nothing in the mission home to do that with. Around 8:15 p.m. we went to the office were the secretaries and the APs were taking the weekly numbers. Elder Logan wasn´t feeling any pain anymore and was really glad to to leave the house and walk around.
We left this morning for Siquirres. It´s been a long couple of days, but my companion´s still alive. That´s all that really matters. =P
Alright, I think I´ve taken enough time out of everyone´s lives with this letter. =P I love you all and I want you to know that I´m doing fine, even if I am a little tired. Have a great week and I can´t wait to hear from you next Monday!
Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie
Sunday, January 31, 2010
7 Days of Rain With Baptism
Wow that´s crazy Hermana Dorsey got in contact with you. That family is so cool, I was really blessed with the opportunity to visit with them as often as we did.
Glad to hear things back home are going smoothly. Any more news if Dad´s going to need surgery again? I forgot to mention this last week, but I was wondering if you guys are still planning to pick me up at mission´s end. I´d actually like to spend even just a few days showing you guys around, but I don´t know the money situation back home. Especially if Dad´s going to need surgery again, I know that kind of put a dent in things last year.
After 7 days straight of rain, we had the baptisms for Ulises and his family Saturday night. There was a bit of craziness that happened, but in the end everything went fine. Elder Logan baptized Ulises and the daughter Carolinne, and I baptized Iraydelis. Elder Logan doesn´t have changes afterall, as we thought he would. He´s going on 7 and a half months in the area now. It´s going to be a challenge working since he feels like he´s done everything he can (kind of like I did in Cañas), but we´ll make it work.
Today we went to a hidden waterfall with the zone leaders, Elder Carr and Elder Shrock. I think the first waterfall I saw in Cañas was better, but this one was pretty sweet with the water flying out like cannon fire. It was so loud though, holy wow. My normal shoes are shredded. Not sure if they can last 8 months more, but we´ll see what happens. I´ve gone this long without buying a single article of clothing, I´d like to keep it that way.
I love you guys and I hope you have a great week. I´m doing well and working hard. Take care and I can´t wait to hear from you next week. Ciao!
Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie
Glad to hear things back home are going smoothly. Any more news if Dad´s going to need surgery again? I forgot to mention this last week, but I was wondering if you guys are still planning to pick me up at mission´s end. I´d actually like to spend even just a few days showing you guys around, but I don´t know the money situation back home. Especially if Dad´s going to need surgery again, I know that kind of put a dent in things last year.
After 7 days straight of rain, we had the baptisms for Ulises and his family Saturday night. There was a bit of craziness that happened, but in the end everything went fine. Elder Logan baptized Ulises and the daughter Carolinne, and I baptized Iraydelis. Elder Logan doesn´t have changes afterall, as we thought he would. He´s going on 7 and a half months in the area now. It´s going to be a challenge working since he feels like he´s done everything he can (kind of like I did in Cañas), but we´ll make it work.
Today we went to a hidden waterfall with the zone leaders, Elder Carr and Elder Shrock. I think the first waterfall I saw in Cañas was better, but this one was pretty sweet with the water flying out like cannon fire. It was so loud though, holy wow. My normal shoes are shredded. Not sure if they can last 8 months more, but we´ll see what happens. I´ve gone this long without buying a single article of clothing, I´d like to keep it that way.
I love you guys and I hope you have a great week. I´m doing well and working hard. Take care and I can´t wait to hear from you next week. Ciao!
Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Wedding Bells
Lot to write about and not much time. It´s been a pretty crazy week. Yeah, I didn´t have time to write yesterday, I´ll explain why.
Tuesday morning we had our district meeting in Guacimo. Let me explain quickly the mindset of my district leader, Elder Manning: "baptizebaptizebaptize". He was just hitting us with baptize as many people as possible and worry about their understanding later. He sees our purpose as just baptizing, and that keeping converts active is the members problem and not our job. I kindly disagree on all fronts. Elder Evans, my first zone leader, said it best:
Study to Teach.
Teach to Baptize.
Baptize to RETAIN.
Retention is Progression.
Progression is ETERNAL.
Anyways, Elder Logan and I just smiled and nodded our heads during district meeting. That night we put a baptismal date with the a kid named Orlando. His dad, menos activo member, asked us to teach and baptize his son, so we started that. We put the fecha for Jan. 23rd.
Wednesday Elder Manning called and asked if we could do divisions Thrusday, because he wanted to talk to Ulises and Iraydelis. Elder Logan and I, fearing Elder Manning would kill the good things we have going with them, took the chance to prepare them for Elder Manning´s visit and talking more about marriage. We spent that night talking with them on the phone a little more and getting them to think about it more seriously.
Thursday came and we had the weirdest divisons I´ve ever had in the mission. Elder Manning and his companion Elder Foutz showed up at 3 p.m. to start divisions, with only 6 work hours left. Elder Foutz and I took the 4 p.m. bus back to Guacimo, and got there at 5 p.m. I helped Elder Foutz sun some errands. He doesn´t speak a lick of spanish, so I was working translation duty. Elder Manning and Elder Logan showed up in Guacimo later that night. Turns out Elder Manning had a district leader meeting Friday morning, so the four of us were spending the night in Guacimo.
Anyways, Elder Logan comes into the house and tells me the good news: Ulises and Iraydelis put a wedding date.
Then he hit me with the stress factor: They want to get married 4 days from then. January 11th, which was yesterday.
Elder Logan and I spend a good part of the night calling the lawyer, making a list of all the paperwork needed (cedulas and passport copies, family info, etc). We had to call Elder O´Dell, who was with me in the MTC, to tell him he was going to be a witness in the wedding along with Elder Logan (they were the two who found the family to begin with). We called the assistants to make sure we could have the wedding in the mission office in San José (Elder O´Dell is in San José right now, so we had to do it there for him to be present). In other words, it was completely crazy.
Friday we finished and emailed all the paperwork we could, minus the passport copies, and started to look for wedding rings. Iraydelis called us that night saying the a LOT of people were telling them not to get married, even though they´ve lived together for 10 years, but she didn´t care what other people said. Apparently she kept seeing signs that it needed to happen.
Saturday Elder Logan and I got hit with a virus that had us bed-ridden for the whole day. Apparently we had a bug that makes you SUPER dehydrated, to the point we felt so weak walking made us nauseated. We continued to do what we could to organize the wedding. Sunday night the rains started pounding down on us.
After some super stressful days and planning, Monday came. With heavy rains still coming down, we took a mini bus to San José. In route we hit a mudslide in the middle of the highway. I said a quick prayer that we would make it to San José on time to make it happen, and my prayers were heard. We even made it to San José a half hour early. =P
The lawyer was late, and we ended up playing a waiting game for him to show. Elder Logan and I were really worried he wasn´t going to come and we had done all of this in vain. The lawyer came, and I got to be part of my first wedding in Costa Rica. Afterwards Pres. Gálvez arrived and visited with Ulises and Iraydelis, which I was really happy about. We got home last night with no time to write home, only time to go right out and work. Luckily we didn´t have district meeting today, so we took the chance to write. =)
So that´s that. Wedding yesterday, and to make it all sweeter Ulises, Iraydelis, and their daughter Carolinne are all getting baptized THIS SATURDAY.
It´s literally been a crazy couple of days, but it all ends well for the change. Elder Logan should be getting changed out next Monday, but we won´t know anything for sure on that until Saturday night.
That´s awesome that Chris Lee was called to the bishopric in Clarkston 2nd! Tell me congrats for me. Keep me updated on dad. I really hope he won´t need surgery again, but we´ll see what happens.
Alright I need to jet, but I love you all and I hope everything´s going well. Things still feel a bit crazy right now, I don´t think I´ll be able to relax until after the baptisms Saturday. =P
Wish me luck!
Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie
Tuesday morning we had our district meeting in Guacimo. Let me explain quickly the mindset of my district leader, Elder Manning: "baptizebaptizebaptize". He was just hitting us with baptize as many people as possible and worry about their understanding later. He sees our purpose as just baptizing, and that keeping converts active is the members problem and not our job. I kindly disagree on all fronts. Elder Evans, my first zone leader, said it best:
Study to Teach.
Teach to Baptize.
Baptize to RETAIN.
Retention is Progression.
Progression is ETERNAL.
Anyways, Elder Logan and I just smiled and nodded our heads during district meeting. That night we put a baptismal date with the a kid named Orlando. His dad, menos activo member, asked us to teach and baptize his son, so we started that. We put the fecha for Jan. 23rd.
Wednesday Elder Manning called and asked if we could do divisions Thrusday, because he wanted to talk to Ulises and Iraydelis. Elder Logan and I, fearing Elder Manning would kill the good things we have going with them, took the chance to prepare them for Elder Manning´s visit and talking more about marriage. We spent that night talking with them on the phone a little more and getting them to think about it more seriously.
Thursday came and we had the weirdest divisons I´ve ever had in the mission. Elder Manning and his companion Elder Foutz showed up at 3 p.m. to start divisions, with only 6 work hours left. Elder Foutz and I took the 4 p.m. bus back to Guacimo, and got there at 5 p.m. I helped Elder Foutz sun some errands. He doesn´t speak a lick of spanish, so I was working translation duty. Elder Manning and Elder Logan showed up in Guacimo later that night. Turns out Elder Manning had a district leader meeting Friday morning, so the four of us were spending the night in Guacimo.
Anyways, Elder Logan comes into the house and tells me the good news: Ulises and Iraydelis put a wedding date.
Then he hit me with the stress factor: They want to get married 4 days from then. January 11th, which was yesterday.
Elder Logan and I spend a good part of the night calling the lawyer, making a list of all the paperwork needed (cedulas and passport copies, family info, etc). We had to call Elder O´Dell, who was with me in the MTC, to tell him he was going to be a witness in the wedding along with Elder Logan (they were the two who found the family to begin with). We called the assistants to make sure we could have the wedding in the mission office in San José (Elder O´Dell is in San José right now, so we had to do it there for him to be present). In other words, it was completely crazy.
Friday we finished and emailed all the paperwork we could, minus the passport copies, and started to look for wedding rings. Iraydelis called us that night saying the a LOT of people were telling them not to get married, even though they´ve lived together for 10 years, but she didn´t care what other people said. Apparently she kept seeing signs that it needed to happen.
Saturday Elder Logan and I got hit with a virus that had us bed-ridden for the whole day. Apparently we had a bug that makes you SUPER dehydrated, to the point we felt so weak walking made us nauseated. We continued to do what we could to organize the wedding. Sunday night the rains started pounding down on us.
After some super stressful days and planning, Monday came. With heavy rains still coming down, we took a mini bus to San José. In route we hit a mudslide in the middle of the highway. I said a quick prayer that we would make it to San José on time to make it happen, and my prayers were heard. We even made it to San José a half hour early. =P
The lawyer was late, and we ended up playing a waiting game for him to show. Elder Logan and I were really worried he wasn´t going to come and we had done all of this in vain. The lawyer came, and I got to be part of my first wedding in Costa Rica. Afterwards Pres. Gálvez arrived and visited with Ulises and Iraydelis, which I was really happy about. We got home last night with no time to write home, only time to go right out and work. Luckily we didn´t have district meeting today, so we took the chance to write. =)
So that´s that. Wedding yesterday, and to make it all sweeter Ulises, Iraydelis, and their daughter Carolinne are all getting baptized THIS SATURDAY.
It´s literally been a crazy couple of days, but it all ends well for the change. Elder Logan should be getting changed out next Monday, but we won´t know anything for sure on that until Saturday night.
That´s awesome that Chris Lee was called to the bishopric in Clarkston 2nd! Tell me congrats for me. Keep me updated on dad. I really hope he won´t need surgery again, but we´ll see what happens.
Alright I need to jet, but I love you all and I hope everything´s going well. Things still feel a bit crazy right now, I don´t think I´ll be able to relax until after the baptisms Saturday. =P
Wish me luck!
Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie
Monday, January 4, 2010
New Year's Breakdown
Not gonna lie. We had an off start to the new year.
New Year´s Eve we had a bit of a scare. Our golden family, Ulises and Iraydelis, called us in the morning to have us pass by and have dinner with them. When we got to the house that night, Elder Logan and I both felt something was wrong. Just looking at the house we could feel something had happened. Turns out Ulises has some drinking issues they never told us about. I talked with Ulises, who felt absolutely horrible for drinking in the first place, while Elder Logan talked with Iraydelis. We managed to convince Iraydelis not to kick Ulises out and to talk things over. Elder Logan and I felt depressed for the rest of the night seeing our favorite family crash like that.
New Year´s Day we went out to this little secluded piece of paradise along the river. One of the hermanas in the branch, la Hermana Patricia and her little daughter, Iraydelis, her daughter Karolay, and also Ulises took us out there. Iraydelis was still infruiated with Ulises, which made things a little awkward. That night we made New Year Resolutions with them on what they´re going to change and what their goals for the year are. Iraydelis and Ulises are started to work things out little by little. They both came to church yesterday and were acting like husband and wife again (although they still need to get married).
That´s about all the news of what´s been going on here. Had some pretty hot weather, but nothing like what I was fighting with in Cañas. I will say that I´ve never eaten so many coconuts in my life. =P The people here give us coconuts everytime we leave a house, coconut trees are literally EVERYWHERE. They also use coconut milk and everything they make. They have a dish called "Rice and Bean". Yes, it´s in english. Most people don´t realize that it is here. Anyway it´s just rice and beans mixed together and cooked with coconut milk, but it is SOOOOOOO GOOD!
I liked your New Year Resolutions. =P My New Year Resolution is to do my studies EVERYDAY. Sundays, because of church, doesn´t give us a lot of time to study. Mondays, P-Day, is a day of which no missionary I´ve met yet takes time to study. And Tuesdays, with district meetings in the morning, take away our study time. That was part of my thinking on giving Logan my Book of Mormom Blitz challenge: To get him to start reading, and also to keep me studying on those days where it seems there´s no time. If I fix that now, I won´t have a problem keeping my studies up when I get home.
Alright, I better wrap this up. We have to buy some food today. =D I love you all and I hope this first week of the new year sets a good pace for the rest of the year. I can´t wait to hear from you all next week!
Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie
New Year´s Eve we had a bit of a scare. Our golden family, Ulises and Iraydelis, called us in the morning to have us pass by and have dinner with them. When we got to the house that night, Elder Logan and I both felt something was wrong. Just looking at the house we could feel something had happened. Turns out Ulises has some drinking issues they never told us about. I talked with Ulises, who felt absolutely horrible for drinking in the first place, while Elder Logan talked with Iraydelis. We managed to convince Iraydelis not to kick Ulises out and to talk things over. Elder Logan and I felt depressed for the rest of the night seeing our favorite family crash like that.
New Year´s Day we went out to this little secluded piece of paradise along the river. One of the hermanas in the branch, la Hermana Patricia and her little daughter, Iraydelis, her daughter Karolay, and also Ulises took us out there. Iraydelis was still infruiated with Ulises, which made things a little awkward. That night we made New Year Resolutions with them on what they´re going to change and what their goals for the year are. Iraydelis and Ulises are started to work things out little by little. They both came to church yesterday and were acting like husband and wife again (although they still need to get married).
That´s about all the news of what´s been going on here. Had some pretty hot weather, but nothing like what I was fighting with in Cañas. I will say that I´ve never eaten so many coconuts in my life. =P The people here give us coconuts everytime we leave a house, coconut trees are literally EVERYWHERE. They also use coconut milk and everything they make. They have a dish called "Rice and Bean". Yes, it´s in english. Most people don´t realize that it is here. Anyway it´s just rice and beans mixed together and cooked with coconut milk, but it is SOOOOOOO GOOD!
I liked your New Year Resolutions. =P My New Year Resolution is to do my studies EVERYDAY. Sundays, because of church, doesn´t give us a lot of time to study. Mondays, P-Day, is a day of which no missionary I´ve met yet takes time to study. And Tuesdays, with district meetings in the morning, take away our study time. That was part of my thinking on giving Logan my Book of Mormom Blitz challenge: To get him to start reading, and also to keep me studying on those days where it seems there´s no time. If I fix that now, I won´t have a problem keeping my studies up when I get home.
Alright, I better wrap this up. We have to buy some food today. =D I love you all and I hope this first week of the new year sets a good pace for the rest of the year. I can´t wait to hear from you all next week!
Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie
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