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