Crazy Week

Alright well, first off, I never thought I´d ever see the Zona Sur, but I´m glad to be here. I got a lot of friends in the zone with me from previous areas, so I´m really looking forward to this change. Elders Hansen and Villanueva, who were both with me in zonas Toyopan and La Sabana, are my zone leaders. Elder Winward, who was my ZL in La Sabana is down here, just to name a few.
My new companion is Elder Centeno from El Salvador. He´s a really humble kid, I´m really glad to have him as a companion after the 3-month headache I had with Elder Rodriguez. Elder Centeno was baptized a little over a year ago, and he´s only been in the mission for 3, almost 4 months. Elder Centeno and I are ready to have some fun and work our butts off to turn this branch around.
San Vito is the only fresco part of the Zona Sur, and I´m so glad to be here. When I went out to Cañas, I thought that was pretty campo. I got out to Siquirres and I was like "Wow, this is super campo." I can honestly say that San Vito is TRUE CAMPO. It´s so green EVERYWHERE. It´s just a nice, quiet countryside town. Nobody locks their doors, and it´s just super peaceful. If I end the mission here, it will be a very peaceful ending. I´m also like a half hour from the Panama border. I´ve literally seen both extremes of this country in the last year.

The first week was way more hectic than what I signed up for, I´ll start with that. I got into the area being told we had 5 baptisms and a wedding this weekend. Well, that might have been what was reported, but that´s not what I found. 3 of those fechas had a set baptismal date for the 29th, but the other 2 so-called "fechas" hadn´t even been talked to about baptism. And as far as that goes, the wedding which was supposedly already planned out had no meat to it´s bones. We had no lawyer to perform the wedding, and the people who were getting married didn´t even know WHEN they were getting married. Elder Centeno spent the whole week running back a forth from place to place trying to get it all figured out. Wednesday we found a lawyer who was going to charge us $80 and finished all the paperwork that needed to be done to have the wedding on Friday, challenged the 2 others to baptism on the 29th, got clearance to have the baptisms in a private river (the chapel here is a house and there is no baptism fount), and planned out when we would have the interviews. Thursday night I had to teach my young men´s and young women´s presidents how to run mutual, and then Friday morning my district leader Elder Sperry showed to do the interviews. The family we were getting married and baptized (Wilber, Melba, & their daughter Angelica) were up first for their baptism interviews, and then we went straight to the wedding. The lawyer was really nice to work with, we´ll more than likely be using her again if another marriage comes around. She ended up only charging us $40, half the original cost. After the marriage the next 2 baptism candadites (Maria & Victor) were up. These are the 2 who didn´t have baptism dates when I got into the area. Their teaching records said they had been taught everything, but when I reviewed the baptism questions with them there were quite a few things they hadn´t been taught. So it didn´t come as a surprise to me when Elder Sperry told me they weren´t ready. We´re going to keep working with them and hopefully get them baptized with strong testimonies in June. I know we can do it.

Saturday morning Elder Winward showed up at our apartment as well. Elder Sperry had been with Elder Winward´s companion, and vice versa. Apparently weird divisions happen all the time in this zone. Anyway seeing how we baptize in a river here, the others wanted to come a see. It´s a good thing they came along, because no other priesthood showed up at the baptism. If the other four missionaries hadn´t come, we wouldn´t have had witnesses for the baptisms. From there on everything played out smoothly though. I told Elder Centeno that from now on, all baptisms/marriages are to be fully planned a week in advance. I hate running against the clock in these things, it´s just too stressful. Planning makes perfect, and I like to keep to that motto.

Sunday was really different. First off, I conducted sacracment meeting. I improvised a talk as well because 2 of our speakers didn´t show. I taught sunday school for the youth because their teacher didn´t show either. An odd part of the day was teaching priesthood and Relief Society together for 5th Sunday. I don´t even know what I was suppose to teach in that class, but Saturday night when I realized I had to teach I pulled something together from Elder Ucthdorf´s talk in October 2008: Lift Where You Stand. I applied it to the branch, putting emphasis on magnifying our callings and working as a team, helping one another out where we can. Elder Centeno and I planned a Branch Talent Show for this coming Saturday, and we´ve planned several other activites as well. In President Gálvez´s letter last week he told me to use everything I´ve learned and experienced in my new calling. Well, if I´ve learned one thing, it´s that activites build unity. Especially when only 30 people come to church. =P

Yes, the branch really is that small. Actually, 30 people in church is a good Sunday here. They had assistance of just 18 a few weeks ago.

The weirdest part of the day was counting up tithing with the branch secretary. Signing all that stuff was just way too weird.

So much to do, so much to learn, and who knows if I can pull it all off. I´m putting everything I´ve got on the Lord right now. I really do feel like a fish out of water right now. Hopefully I don´t feel like that for much longer.

I hope you all have a great week. Have fun, be safe, and enjoy the start of summer vacation! Thanks for sending me Ashley´s graduation fotos!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Pray for me

"And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed." -Moses 1:10

This scripture best describes how I feel right now. You´ll understand why as you read on.

This last week was busy and hectic. Tuesday we helped a family tear down a fence, and Friday we repaired yet one more rocking rock. I didn´t feel any earthquake on Thursday, possibly because we were on a bus, but a lot of people were talking about it. As far as I know there wasn´t any major damage.

Friday night our ward mission leader, Hno. Lopez, went out with us to visit a family we´d been teaching. They started out right from the get-go with one doubt after another about little insignificant things, and Elder Rodriguez began to respond with coments that would have for sure insulted the family- that is of course until I cut him off. I poured my heart out to those people using the clearest and yet sincerest language I could summon. As we left I was grateful to see in their eyes that the Spirit had touched them. Walking home, I had the strongest impression that I had borne my last testimony in the area.

I was right.

Saturday I began to say my goodbyes. I taught my last english class, commiting my students to come to church on Sunday. Saturday night we had a humble farewell dinner with the Familia Lopez (who Elder Logan and I married and baptized). That was very easily the hardest goodbye of my mission. After everything I had been through with this family, goodbye didn´t come easy.
Sunday we brought one of our families to church and as usual I played the part of usher as I counted up attendance. As the sacrament meeting started, I looked over the congregation, trying to see if I had really made a difference in the area. Three families we had reactivated were present, along with the two familes who were recently sealed in the temple. Another man who, but a few short months before I came to Siquirres, had once worked as a pimp in the red light district was also counted among those present, now the Elders Quorum President and having recently received his endowment in the temple. Two of my english students were present, and I felt a strong feeling of peace settle in as I watch a man, who was once excomunicated from the church, now seated with his family and partaking of the santa cena after ten years of waiting. In total, we had eighty-five people in church along with 10 Melquisedec Priesthood holders. When I arrived in Siquirres last December we had 50 in church and only 4 priesthood holders. But even after all of that, the greatest pain one can feel entered my soul as I took into account that those five, of which I had baptized over these last six months, were not present. Yurico had left for another town shortly after her baptsm. Orlando just didn´t come. And the Familia Lopez was out of town visiting family. A simple phrase from the book The Outsiders came to mind:


"Nothing gold can last."


I finished packing Sunday night, having spent the day saying goodbye and thanking all the leaders for their help and support. Yesterday, Monday, was Changes. Elder Rodriguez is now senior companion, and his new companion is Elder Brazington from Spokane. I pray they´ll take care of the area and help it continue to progress. After a seven hour bus ride from San José I finally arrived to my new area of San Vito in the Zona Sur with my new companion Elder Centeno from El Salvador. I have taken the place of my old companion Elder Tagliaferri, as Branch President of San Vito.

Now you´ll understand why I started with that verse from Moses.

If you remember my reaction when I won 1st runner-up in Mr. LHS my senior year, then you have a good idea how I reacted when President Gálvez announced me as Branch President. I complete shock. I have never felt so overwelmed in my life as I did in that moment. I have always said that trainers, zone leaders, and branch presidents are callings that President Gálvez saves for his best missionaries. And I in no waay consider myself among those elite. Nevertheless, I know better than to question President Gálvez. If he felt I could take on the challenge, then I can. There´s no question to it. I just can´t do it alone.
Elder Tagliaferri left me the branch president´s manual, of which will become like scripture to me over the coming weeks and months. But more so than that I will need the guidance of the Spirit with me, now more than ever.

I humbly ask that you all keep me in your prayers. I´m going to need each and every one of them.

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Flood Sunday

Lots has happened this week so hopefully I don´t forget anything. Wednesday we had Zone Conference and President Gálvez announced us all Family History workers because not one of our branches/wards have someone with that calling. We went right to it, making copies of the genealogy...registros...I don´t know how to say registros in english...that´s just flat out SAD. Anyway, I´ve been using my own family tree I brought with me as we´ve been teaching the recent converts. Also, the Hermana Gálvez had us discuss within our districts new ways to find more families to teach. Elder Holt brought up an idea he had mentioned at the start of March, and then I had to present our plan to the zone. I felt kind of bad because it was Elder Holt´s idea, but I was the one called on to present it. You know me, I don´t even take credit for my OWN ideas, let alone the ideas of others. Anyways we´re going to put that plan into action this week. I´ll give you more details on that after we´ve started with it.
After Zone Conference we had divisions, and I was working in my area with Elder Duncan from San Diego. He´s a pretty quiet kid, but he´s super cool. For only having 6 months in the mission his spanish isn´t half bad. The accent comes with time, but he has no problem saying what he wants and getting his point across. For not have had a latino companion yet he´s doing pretty well.
Friday we repaired 2 more rocking chairs for another family. I ended up doing one of the chairs, which didn´t turn out half bad for the first time...at least I want to think so... =P On Saturday two families from our branch were sealed in the temple. It was really cool to talk with one of the families after they got back. Saturday morning we spent the day painting a roof for one of the recent convert families here, a service of which we had to finish today (wasn´t much of a P-Day, but oh well).

Sunday morning was a headache. At 7:30 a.m. we were passing by the church on our way to pick up a family of investigators. As we passed the church, I noticed water leaking from the door to the sacrament room. We went inside to investigate, and to my horror, the place was flooded up to our ankles. How or why I do not know, but I´m pretty sure it was a gift for my 600th day in the mission. At least I like to think of it like that. We spent some 5 minutes trying to run the water out, but there was just so much I knew we needed to call the branch president. We ran to our ward mission leader´s house to use his cell phone, but the branch president didn´t answer. We ran back to the chapel just as the branch secretaries were pulling up. We opened up all the doors and began draining the place, my companion grabbing a folding table at one point to run the water out the doors. One by one as members arrived they began to help drain the water. By 9 a.m. the sacrament room was dry, and with chairs out and ready, we miraculously started on time. By the time sacrament meeting was over, the rest of the chapel had dried as well. We didn´t find out WHY the chapel had flooded, but just to see EVERYONE roll up their sleeves and start helping was really cool to see. Some branch unity I haven´t seen in my 6 months here in Siquirres. As I said when all was said and done, "Just another story for the Ensign."

After church we had a very special baptism take place. A man who had be excomunicated 10 years ago finally got the okay to be re-baptized, and there were some 40 members present for it. I won´t lie, it did bring back some old memories.

Alright, I gotta jet, shower, and get ready to work again. Changes are on Monday, so we´ll be getting a phone call Thursday or Friday about what´s what. I don´t see myself leaving just yet. My companion actually has better chances of getting switched out. But just as Elder Holt told me last night, "With President Gálvez, it´s impossible to predict Changes."

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Take care and I´ll write back next week. ¡Ciao!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

The Downhill

Hey! It was great to talk to you all yesterday! Too bad I didn´t get to talk to Ashley, but let her know I love her and, like I said, I´ll be home in time to egg her on her birthday tico-style. =P

Yesterday went pretty well. I´m still more than a little disappointed that our asistence in church dropped again, but I should be use to the random ups and downs that occur here. It´s just kind of disheartening to see a decent leap forward one week only to witness a huge fall right back to where we started the next. One can only do so much, but that´s pretty much all it depends on: Just doing your part.

Today we took the zone leaders and the other companionship in our district to the waterfall in my area. The weather was on our side this time, with a decent cloud cover and a cool breeze. The last few times I´ve gone out there the brutality of the sun has murdered me, so I was grateful for a rest from the heat.

This week looks like it´s gonna be pretty packed. Wednesday we have our own personal Zone Conference. As I mentioned on the phone, the pass to San José was closed all last week due to mudslides, so we weren´t able to make it to the normal Multi-Zone Conference. That same day we´ll be doing divisions, so I´ll be working my area with Elder Duncan from San Diego. He´s a little new, but he´s a fun kid. Thursday and Friday mornings we have yet more service projects, and then comes a pretty tranquilo weekend. The end of the change is coming up pretty fast. Like I said, I highly doubt I´ll be getting changed out right now. I´m pretty sure I´ll be pulling the 7 and a half months and leaving for my last area in July, but we really won´t know anything until the 21st.

Just as last week my fotos aren´t uploading right now, so you´ll all have to wait on that. I hope you have a great week and I can´t wait to hear from you guys next week! ¡Cuidese mucho!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Festival de la Jama

Alright, glad to hear everything´s going well back home and that Ashley was able to enjoy her senior prom afterall. =D Thanks for the pictures. Everyone´s gonna be asking me if Dad´s in the military, but I´ll get a good laugh out of it. Everyone´s really against the military in this country, more out of ignorance than anything else.

This last week went by really fast. Wednesday I had divisions with Elder Holt out in Guacimo. Elder Holt is super funny, we had some pretty fun divisions together. Elder Holt spent 6 months in the mission office as secretary, so we spent a lot of time talking about what it would take to convert our areas (which are branches right now) to wards. Guacimo is a lot further along than Siquirres, but we´re not too far off the mark either. To be a ward, we need an assistance of 85 in church and 15 Melchizedek priesthood holders. We average 60 to 65 on assistance, and we have 10 worthy priesthood holders. Yesterday we had 80 in church, which almost made my heart stop. Elder Holt and I developed a decent plan, which includes finding and baptizing 6 new families within the next year. Sunday I met with the Branch President to explain our plan and to put together another actividad misional. Although Pres. Acuña didn´t exactly grasp the whole 6 NEW families (he just kept talking about inactives who have more than 6 to 10 years of being inactive), with the activities I have in mind, we can definately get the ball rolling on this. I won´t be here to see it happen, but I can do my part to help form the first stake outside the San José Valley.

The branch activity we had Saturday was about half a success. No one really participated in bringing food (it was pretty much a potluck kind of deal), but plenty of people showed and we did at the end get a couple references. I made 3 banana cream pies, but annoyingly I had to make the crust for the pies (I´m lazy and I wanted to just buy them made, but of course I can´t do that here). The crust turned out okay, not bad for the first time. The filling was great though, everyone like it and just about the whole Relief Society asked me for the recipe, which made me laugh. I won´t lie, as I took a bite of one of those pies all I could think was "...I´ll be home for Thanksgiving...I´ll be home for Thanksgiving...I´ll be..." =P

The fruit of our labors were apparent Sunday with 80 in church and a handfull of investigators present. I´m trying to raise the bar and keep things moving forward. 3 weeks left in the change. I´m not sure how this will play out. I told one of the zone leaders today that I can pull off another change in Siquirres easily, but I can´t do it with Elder Rodriguez. Teaching with Elder Holt on Wednesday was the first time I´d felt the Spirit in a lesson for the last 2 months. That´s not good.

Alright I gotta jet but I want you guys to know I love you and that I´m doing well. I´ll be calling you guys Sunday after church like we did last year. I´ll be in the house after 12:30ish, so I´ll give you guys a call around 1 p.m. If you´re not home at that time, then I´ll call again around2 p.m. The number´s the same as it was for Christmas. I told you I´d still be here, but you didn´t believe me. =P

Alright I gotta go. ¡Ciao!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Scorch Week

This last week went by rather smoothly, although I felt like I was living in an oven it was so unbearably hot. Days like that make me a little trunky, because all I can think about is "When I get home, I´m gonna freeze to death. And I´ll love it."

We spent 2 morning working on a cement floor for one family, and another repairing yet another rocking chair that our service has mainly consisted to. Not bad all in all. Assistence in church wasn´t what I had hoped for, looking at what we accomplished during the week, but that´s not an uncommon disappointment for me. I just want to leave this brach we a norm of 70 people in church. If I can do that, then my time here was well spent in my eyes. I´m definately thinking more in the zone of "If they won´t help to build up Zion, then find someone who will!"

Thursday President Gálvez, the Hermana Gálvez, and the zone leaders stopped by to do a house check and also for our interviews with President. A lot of missionaries we´re kind of weirded out and scared by these turn of events, but since our house is always pretty well clean and I try to keep our Area Book up to date, we we´re pretty calm about it. Interviews went great, it´s always a blessing to have a one-on-one with President Gálvez. The zone leaders we have right now are pretty cool too, and as always the Hermana Gálvez always has something funny to say about the missionary-lifestyle.

I´m trying to convince my companion to start running in the mornings, but he won´t hear any of it. 19 months, and I have yet to have a companion who´s up for a good morning run. It´s a sad story. =P

This Saturday we´ve planned a branch activity, Festival de la Jama (Festival of Food). I´m hoping for a decent turnout and I´m also planning on making a few banana cream pies. We´ll see how those turn out, I haven´t made on since my first Christmas in Tibás with Elder DePriest. =P I´ll be sure to send fotos, I´ve gotten a little lazy with that as of late. Mainly because I don´t trust the virus-filled tico computers that flood this country. On that note, yes I still have my camera, and yes I still have my debit card. As I said, I´ve gotten a little lazy with fotos. And as far as withdrawing money, I´ve never been able to check my balance, so I don´t know how much is in my account. Plus I´m never hurting for money. Here we are on the last week of the month, and I still have $60. I only pull out personal money for emergencies and other such things. I might need to pull out a little money to buy all the stuff for the pies, but we´ll see about that.

Okay I´ve said enough, nor do I have anything else to tell you guys. =P I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Talk to ya next week!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie

Christmas in April

The title is fitting seeing how Dad is just finishing HIS Christmas in April project, and mine seems to be beginning this week. =P

The last week as been really insane. A lot of work and a lot of service projects, as seems to be the theme of my companionship right now. 4 menos activa families called us up and put last minute citas with us, so then came the rush of rescheduling other citas and all that nonsense. Two of these families are those of which were baptized last fall, but when their missionaries left they dropped the church and would not receive visits from anyone. They flat out rejected Elder Logan and myself the last time we tried passing by in February. The other 2 families I had been visiting with Elder Logan, but they weren´t progressing. So we had made the call to give them some time and try again later. Three of the four went to church yesterday, the fourth...depending on how this week goes we might end up turning them over to the only members who do their home teaching. We have to try and maintain the 5 menos activos we visit, we can´t work with so many at once because we lose time in finding investigators and actually teaching and baptizing and all that good stuff.

In other words, it´s been pretty hectic around here.

My companion continues to be more than a little hyperactive, but with these two recent convert families who have started coming to church again he´s exactly what they need to feel comfortable...I hope. I´m really just scared people are gonna look at us like a joke, but I think Elder Rodriguez is finally starting to cool down a little...

This week we´re packed with service projects practically every morning. Between repairing chairs, laying yet more cement floors, and doing house repairs, I can honestly say I´m not even going remember going to bed at night I´ll be so exhausted. But if it all gets us results and helps the area, more power to it. I´ve also had some fun this last week playing around with the language as I´ve talked to people. I have a long ways to go in my opinion, but it´s really funny to tell people I´m panameño or guatemateco and nobody questions it. I´m starting to understand why my first companion, Elder DePriest, loved playing around with people like that. After going from speaking NOTHING to everything being natural you can´t help but have fun with it. =D

We´re also in the planning of a branch activity, something along the lines of what we did in Cañas last year. La Festial de la Jama (comida). I´ll give you more of an update on that next week, but we´re planning to have the activity the 1st of May.

Alright well there´s not much else happening around here besides the usual insanity of the work. =P This Thursday we have interviews with President Gálvez, which will be nice. I take advantage of every chance I get to talk with President, he always has something to say to change my outlook on the mission and help me do better. Hopefully the action-packed week we have planned out doesn´t kill me in the meantime, that would just be a sad Christmas. =P

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Take care, work hard but don´t over do it. I have to, it´s in the calling, but you guys should take at least 5 minutes a day to kick back and relax. If not for yourselves, than do it for me! =P ¡Ciao a todos!

Tu Hijo,
Elder Nunie