Reading, Praying, and Turtle Eggs

Hahaha, sounds like you guys are enjoying summer vacation. So you leave for Hawaii in 2 weeks? Wow, I bet Ashley´s getting really antzy to go. I´m really glad to hear Logan´s making friends in the ward, he needs that. A good confidence boost. What did you guys do for Dad´s b-day??? Anything special? I´m glad Dad´s able to keep himself busy with projects and stuff, and I bet he is too. What do I want from Hawaii??? Well since I won´t actually get it for another year or so...meh, keychain and maybe one of those louhou dolls for my car when I get home. =P I´d be content with that.
I did a little victory dance when you said you sent sour patch kids, just so you know. =D Hopefully I´ll get the package at changes.

Alright so, what´s new here...Well for starters the situation with my companion is still the same. Maradiaga just doesn´t care anymore, and his lack of decision making skills makes it worse. I´ve given up waiting for him to shape up. He´s a cool guy and we have fun, but if he´s not going to do his job and actually work while he has the chance then I´m gonna do it. Maradiaga will just have to follow my lead.
Saturday was National Service Day for Costa Rica. The 2 branches helped clean up an old folks home and the four of us helped out as well. The women painted benches while us MEN chopped down a tree, cleared out a ton of tall grass with machettes, and planted a dozen small trees. The four of us missionaries were pretty beat afterwards to say the least. But all in all it was good fun. Not much else happened this week, just work as usual.

This Saturday is the temple trip. I´m going to be pulling out money Friday from the account. I´m trying to be a little pinche this week so that I can pay for the buses with mission money, and be able to buy a few things I need at the temple store with personal cash. I´m looking forward to going to the temple again. I need the opportunity to clear my head a little and refocus, and the temple is a great place to do that.
We had lunch with the branch president, Pres. Reyneir, and his family yesterday. They´re so cool, and Pres. Reyneir is super enthusiastic, he reminds me a lot of Dad: funny, great with people, and always ready for the next task.
The closer I get with some of our menos activo families, the more I realize what a great job you and dad did raising me. I´ve taught on multiple occasions the 3 most basic principles in the gospel: read the scriptures, pray often, go to church. And every time I teach this lesson, I can´t help but think about the example you set while I was growing up. I remember when I was really little how Mom would always read us stories from the childrens´ picture version of the Book of Mormon, and how we all would always pray as a family every night before bed. Then of course there was Mom´s undying diligence of going to church every Sunday regardless of circumstances. But what I remember most of that time is how UNITED we all were. That´s what strikes home with me more than anything else. We were so much more ONE as a family in that time than any other, as far as I can remember. But it´s that feeling of unity I always stress when teaching less active families, because I see in them the same struggles we all faced together as a family. It´s all...well, I´m just really grateful for the effort you and dad put into trying to raise us kids right. For me it made the difference.

Hmmmm, well I don´t have much else to say really. Not a whole lot has been happening. I´m finally going to try mondongo next Sunday when we visit Pres. Reyneir and his family again. Oh yeah, some girl told her mom she´d start going to church again just to see me because I´m "tan guapo"...how bout them apples? I got a good laugh out of that. =P
Oh yeah, and apparently I´m humble??? Last night we were visiting a family from the branch who are having "differences" as they put it with other members in the branch. ...A situation we´re all too familiar with... Anyway as we were talking and I explained the importance of going to church not because of the people, but because of a sincere want to follow Christ, then mom replied that it´s not easy to ignore what other people say. That´s when the daughter of the family jumped in and said "That´s why we need to be humble like Elder Núñez!"
...I was a little taken aback, not gonna lie. I´ve never really seen myself as humble, I´ve just tried to do the right thing and screw up as little as possible, get along with people as best I can, yadda yadda yadda. Not that that´s always worked out for me, but at the very least I can say I tried. Not sure if that qualifies me for "humble" though.

Qué mas...oh yeah, Elder Litchfield and I had the honor of eating turtle eggs together. =P I tried turtle eggs back in Tibas, but that was a raw egg in a salsa drink that you just downed in one go. This time round was a little different. Thursday night we had dinner with our cook and Litchfield brought 2 cooked turtle eggs. I never handled a turtle egg before, it was weird. You learn in grade school the shell is like leather, but to actually feel it was interesting. To eat it we had to bite into the shell a little and suck out the liquid (it was really spicy, they cooked it in chile). Then you just opened it up and ate the core. It wasn´t too bad, but I like the salsa drink more. =P

Alright well I better jet. I love you all and I hope everyone has a great week. Changes are next week, so I´ll be emailing next Monday on whether or not I have changes. It´s about a 70% chance that I´ll be leaving, but anything´s possible. Oh yeah, there´s a book I´m wondering if you can find called "The Little Book of Missionary Reminders". I think it´s a bit older but hopefully you can find it. That´d make a cool little b-day present (ONE MONTH!). =D

Adios! Ciao! Cuidense!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Rushed Letter

I´m glad to hear everyone´s doing great for the most part. Glad to hear Logan had fun at scout camp and that´s awesome he did so well in the shotgun shooting! Haha, Ashley working on her tan. =P When are you two flying out for Hawaii???

Alright so here´s what happened over the last week. Tuesday we had interviews with Pres. Gálvez, and I´m happy to say I feel Pres. Gálvez is just who we need to lead this mission right now. I had a good talk with him in my interview about the situation with my companion and he gave me some good ideas on what I can do as junior comp to keep things moving and not let my comp´s "I don´t care attiude" get in the way of what we need to do. Zone Conference was Wednesday and I won´t lie, it was a little weird. Spirits seemed to be down, the APs presentation didn´t have any real direction or message, and the APs themselves seemed to be a little distant from us and themselves. It was...a little off to say the least. Pres. Gálvez finished the conference on a high note with his capacitation at least. =)

Thursday and Friday we had divisions with the zone leaders. I was with my district leader Elder Gonzalez both days in the Cañas area and Elder Zavala was with my comp in La Unión. I was hoping Zavala might be able to give my comp some ánimo buuut...yeah, not sure that happened. Gonzalez goes home in 2 weeks, so he´s been working on his final report twice a week in the mornings. Friday we went to internet for him to type a few things up, aaaaaaaaaand we found Zavala and Maradiaga already there...doing email...and watching YouTube...yeah... I decided I´m not going to wait for Maradiaga to shape up. If he´s not going to make decisions or work on his own, he´ll just have to follow me. I´m tired of wasting time in the park every day.

Saturday made up for it all though. A month ago I threw out the idea with do a talent show for the 2 branches. Well we had our Noche de Talentos Saturday night, and I had a blast. =D I taught my district an easy kadence from drumline, and then we danced to a mix that Litchfield threw together and I ended up coreogrphing (spelling???). "We Will Rock You", "Mr. Roboto", "Kung Fu Fighting", the weird Las Ketchup song Ashley always use to listen to, "The Macarena", "Cotton Eye Joe", and "Thriller". It was really funny, I had a blast doing it. I´ll be sending fotos and video of it all next week.

Alright I have to jet, we´re in San José right now (Elder Maradiaga had to finish his immigration papers) and we have to catch our bus in 20 minutes. I love you all and I hope you all have a grat week!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- I don´t know if you can, but could somebody look through my stuff and send me my little white MP3 player???

Reflect on Your Present Blessings...

So this last week helped clear the cloudy skies that the week before brought in. I was on divisiones with good old Elder Litchfield Thursday and Friday, and that was definately the medicine I needed. We worked hard and had a blast doing it. Litchfield is so cool, just another guy I´m going to be chilling with after the mission. =D We found a new investigador (POR FIN), and taught some really sick lessons together. I can´t say how grateful I am to have Litchfield with me here. Without question he´s my best friend here in the mission. From the fallout of the week before to how horrible last Monday night went (none of our citas were home) hanging out with Litchfield saved me. I´m really blessed to have him there to pick me up as my comp goes trunky on me.

I got the package on Tuesday! Thanks a ton for the books, they´ve been really interesting to look over. Especially the Missionary Tools booklet, some really good ideas in there. Sadly most of them are out of the question in Tico Land, but others I´ve modified and I´m gonna see how they work out with some members this week. The shoe laces came just in time, thank you so much for that. =)

As far as this week goes, we have interviews tomorrow and zone conference Wednesday. In other words, we´re finally going to meet Presidente Galvez! We´re all really interested and excited to see what happens. Oh yeah, almost forgot! This Saturday we´re having a Talent Show activity. I offered up the idea a few weeks ago and the District President loved the idea, so every group in both branches (young men, young women, priesthood, relief society, and Los Elderes =D) is going to do something. I taught elders Maradiaga, Litchfield, and Gonzalez something from my drumline days, and then Litchfield threw together a dance mix and had me come up with a dance for all of us to do (yay drama!...yeah...). No one is ever going to forget us here, that´s for sure. I´m going to take video to send you guys. It´s going to be pretty hilarious.

Still on the search for a family. My comp still doesn´t want to knock doors...and no one ever has references...so I´m talking to everyone I can in the park. Someone has to invite to their house! I talk to 12 people a day, 7 days a week in the park. More often than not more than that. The odds of someone saying "yes" are not that far fetched, am I right??? =P

All right nothing much else from my side of the woods. I hope everyone is doing well and has a great week. I love you all and know that I´m working hard and I´m very, VERY grateful for all your prayers. It´ll all pay off soon, I know it will.

In parting I´ll leave you with some words from my good friend Charles Dickens which also helped lift my spirits this week. =)

"Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."

I love you all!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

These Are The Times That Try Mens Souls

Nothing special to report on my 4th of July. Just work as usual for us. Elder Maradiaga is suffering from mid-mission crisis has I´ve started calling it. He just doesn´t have the desire to work, and I´m running out of ideas on how to animate the guy. All I can do is get my contacts in for the day, and try to keep him from visiting the same menos activo family more than twice a week. Still haven´t found a family...but my comp hasn´t wanted to go looking either. It´s more of a disappointment than disheartening for me. I want to work, and work hard. But my comp doesn´t share my interest right now.

As I said not much to say about this week because not much happened. =( The ZLs are planning a Zone Activity for the last week of this month...a temple trip. I´d love to go, but at the end of the month a trip to San José is impossible. There´s no way we´ll have money enough to do it. We´ll just have to see what happens I guess.

Well I´ve spent this last week thinking about my situation and my companion´s lack of will. This shows just how much of a nerd I am when the first thing that popped into my head is a quote from Thomas Paine:

¨The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly.¨

Well, I´m definately in conflict right now. But it´s all too true. Anything and everything I´ve ever worked for was the much sweeter when it finally happened. That year long fight to get out here in the first place has made it virtually impossible to disanimate me. The 3 months of hard, hard work paid of in th baptism of Andres. And now? Truthfully this is the hardest things have been for me in the mission. This week was the first time I´ve had someone openly yell and cuss me out. Not a pleasant experience to say the least, but to ignore an insult is the true test of courage. And through it all, if by some miracle I find that family that we so desperately need right now, it´ll be reason to celebrate.
Because right now I just want someone to talk to. Who will listen with an open heart, and accept the what we have to offer. Right now that´s what I want more than anything else in the world. I just want someone to help. Because that´s what I´m here for, that´s WHO I am. And to talk to every soul that passes through the park as my comp watches from a bench and come up empty handed at the end of the day is MORE than enough reason to call it quits and go home. But I can´t do that, nor will I. If I joined my comp on the bench I´d not only let myself down, or everyone else back home, but those I was specially sent to help here. And that´s something I refuse to let happen without a fight.

*sigh* It´s been a long week. What can I say?

I hope everyone back home is doing fine. I love you all. =)
Take care and I´ll write, as always, next week. Cuidense.


Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Just Another Week in Paradise

Well here´s the scoop from this last week. Talking with Hno. Crane and his wife was awesome. We met up with them in the park and just talked about our experiences in the mission so far and what they´ve been up to since we left back in November. They came down just to visit us, my group from the MTC. Apparently we were Hno. Crane´s favorites, or so his wife told us. She said every group after us got an earful about us every day. =P It was really cool to talk with them though. =)

Changes this last week came and went. My new zone leader is........ELDER ZAVALA! AGAIN! I was so stoaked when I heard that, he´s such a cool guy. I can´t wait to go on divisions with him. =D We´re patiently awaiting the arrival of Pres. Galvez this Wednesday. I really don´t know what to expect with the change, I guess we´ll just wait and see what happens.

My comp is getting a little lazy……I think the knowledge he´s gonna be in this area for 6 months total is getting to him. Our numbers last week were horrible, but my district leader Elder Gonzalez told me if I´m doing my part he´s got my back. I´m junior comp, but I´ve pretty much been senior comp these last 6 weeks. But there´s only so much I can do to animate Elder Maradiaga. All I can do is my part and keep on keepin on. We´ll see how things play out.
In truth I just want to find new people to teach, but contacting in the street only goes so far. And I can´t get Elder Maradiaga to knock doors to save my life right now. I don´t know if I told you guys, but back in my first area I put goals I wanted to accomplish throughout the mission. The mission goal is 1000 baptisms for the year, and since May we´ve been in 2x2x2 (2 baptisms for May, 2 for June, and 2 for July) in preparation for Pres. Galvez. But along with those I set my own goals, one of which was to baptize a future missionary which I accomplished in the baptism of Andres. =D
Now? I want to baptize a family. But that´s only going to happen if we do our part in finding people, and right now as a team that´s not really happening… =( Right now the branch is really desanimado with so few baptisms over the years. Things picked up a bit when we dunked Andres, so imagine what a whole family would do in reenergizing things here! I´m gonna need all the prayers I can get to find, teach, and baptize a family in the next 6 weeks. 6 weeks isn´t a lot of time, but it´s far from impossible. All we need is a little faith and things will fall into place. But with that faith we need to do our part, and that´s where I´m struggling right now with my comp getting desanimado and without a desire to work. =( Yeah…I´m gonna need some prayers in the coming weeks. =D

I´m putting together a package to send you guys, but I´m faulting a few things I want to send and Cañas is far from a good place to find trinkets and stuff. Not sure when I´ll get it in the mail…but it´ll get in the mail…eventually. =P
As far as packages from you guys goes…well I haven´t gotten anything in 6 weeks because I´m 4 freaking hours from San José, and almost 3 from the ZLs. The package you sent has probably been sitting in the office for a good month now, but I most likely won´t see it until Zone Conference in a few weeks. At least I hope I´ll get it then. The APs brought the wrong mail last time (for a different zone). 6 weeks without mail has been very, very sad. =P

Anyways I better jet but I love you all and I´ll talk to you next week! Ciao!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Baptized by the Rain of Costa Rica

Wish Dad a happy belated Father´s Day, I´m gonna try to put a package in the mail for you guys sometime this week...or next...not entirely sure yet. Glad to hear everyone is doing well por la menos. I hope you foot heals up quickly before Hawaii Mom!

Soooo first off, none of us here in Cañas have changes so we have another 6 weeks of the Fantastic Four rocking Cañas like only we can. =P Por la menos, my comp and I are planning on 3 baptisms this change. We have on set for the 18th of July, and we´re still working with Juan Carlos and another lady named Johana that we found about 2 weeks ago. Juan Carlos was suppose to go to church with us buuuut when we passed by yesterday morning he was still sleeping... que barbaridad. Oh well, there´s always work to be done. The end of this month is the goal for Juan Carlos and Johana. Johana´s a little crazy…a little…but she´s asking the right questions and is really receptive so I have high hopes there. =)

Now this email was going to be named “Miracles” buuuuuut the title I gave it was mas tuanis and fit perfectly. You´ll see why.

Saturday was the baptism for Andres. After 3 months things were paying off. After English classes Saturday afternoon we opened up the fount, cleaned it out, and were about to fill it up when we found out the worst:
There was hardly any running water in the chapel. A Super Soaker could put out more water than the faucet in the fount was, not even joking. So we threw the hose from outside into the fount (which was putting out even less water than the faucet) and I starting filling up little trash cans with water from another faucet outside. After an hour we had maybe an inch and a half of water. It was 2 p.m. and the baptism was at 7 p.m. At this rate we were never going to fill the fount. That´s when God stepped in, having heard our pitiful prayers, and did what only He could do:

He made it rain.

I´ve seen really, REALLY hard rain here, but Saturday was the hardest storm I´ve ever seen, EVER. After an hour and a half we had 2 feet of water in the fount. I was running back and forth dragging bucket after bucket of water into the fount. I felt like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia as we tried to do all we could to fill the fount with RAIN. The rain ended around 3:30 p.m. but we still faulted a lot. We went back to trying with the little faucet outside the church and the hose but it just wasn´t doing it. Then came the rain one more time, even harder than the first. Hour and a half more and the fount was full., 90% of the water having fallen from the heavens. But it was done. Elder Maradiaga baptized Andres, I directed the meeting, and more people showed up to this one baptism than the last 4 I´ve had. But if not for the miracle of that storm, it wouldn´t have happened. I can even begin to describe how happy and grateful I was. Andres, in all honesty, was baptized by the rains of Costa Rica.

That was Saturday. Sunday we went to Upala, the closed area we´re incharge of, and meet with the family we´re teaching out there and the menas activa we visit as well. Upala is a good 2 hour bus ride from Cañas, and only an hour from Nicaragua. Just to give you an idea of how out of the way it is out there. But meeting with our family and the menas activa we set our goal for Upala as well. We´re going to try and do all we can to start up the Group in Upala otra vez, but to do it we need priesthood. That´s why Upala was closed in the first place: There´s not a soul up there with the priesthood. There´s a lot of work to do up there, and we can only visit once every 3 weeks for only 3 hours. It´s NOT going to be easy, but it´s why we´re here.

On the flip side, today is a chill P-Day for us. We don´t have anywhere to go or visit, but today is going to be weird to say the least. Why? Well, Thursday I was on divisions with Elder Litchfield and that night we got a phone call…from the APs. Our first thought was “Ummm…did we do something wrong???” But that wasn´t the case at all. Guess who´s in Costa Rica and is coming to visit Litchfield and I today with his new wife? None other than Hno. Crane, our teacher from the MTC.

…I already feel like the MTC was only like 3 months ago…yeah…

The APs gave us the number to call Hno. Crane and talk about déjà vu. Litchfield and I started laughing after we talked to Hno. Crane, it was just too weird. We´re meeting up with Hno. Crane at 1:30 p.m. today. I´ll let you know what happens next week.

As far as mail goes I haven´t seen a letter, let alone a package for 6 weeks. We got jipped this change with NO MAIL whatsoever. …Not cool… We probably won´t see mail until Zone Conference in like 2 or 3 weeks. A change without mail is a hard thing indeed, but it´ll be like Christmas when I finally get it. =D

Alright I better jet but I hope all is well back home and that you guys have a great week. Tell Logan I wish him a happy birthday and that I´m still waiting on those scripture covers for him. He´ll probably get them for his Christmas present. =P

I love you all!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

Baptism Anyone?

I hope you can get that cast off soon for Hawaii Mom!!!
You read a 500 page book in one day??? That´s something I´d do and have done. But I didn´t do it out of boredom, I´m just a nerd like that. Oh yeah, I said something so nerdy today I had Elder Litchfield on the ground he was laughing so hard. I´m so glad to have that kid in my district, we have a good time.
HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY DEREK!!!! Can´t believe he turns 19 Saturday. That´s insane.

The mission activity last week was awesome. It was great to see my MTC district, along with all my friends here in the mission. I talked to Elder Tagliaferri and it looks like things are pretty much the same as when I left. He´s baptized 6 in Barrio Tibas (the closed area) and only 1 in Barrio Garabito. It was good to hear how everyone is doing in my old area nonetheless. It´s a ways off, but if you guys decide to come and get me at mission´s end, we need to visit some of those families. =)
As far as the new mission president goes, I haven´t heard much. All I really know is Presidente Galvez ended his mission when I was born. =P My comp knows a bit more about him than I do, but not by much. Pres. Galvez was a branch president in the Guatemala MTC, but Elder Maradiaga only saw him like 3 times. Nothing drastic has changed as far as I can tell, but it´ll be interesting to see what changes do end up taking place.

Another week passes by, and we´re that much closer to the end of the change. Time just flies, it´s incredible. This week we´ve been battling with the Zone Leaders and their want of numbers. Honestly I don´t see why they´re being so pushy right now, every week our numbers get better and better as we pick up the pieces from past elders. I´m just gonna focus on the work and what the area needs most from us right now. Which brings me to this week´s highlight story: I´M BAPTIZING!!!!
This Saturday is Andres´ baptism, POR FIN!!!! We´ve been working with him for 3 months but finally things are paying off. The first baptism in the branch since a year and a half ago, and we´ve got more we´re planning on. Our main focus this week, aside from Andres, is Juan Carlos. He found new work so that he could come to church Sundays, understood everything about the Plan of Salvation even before we got halfway through it, and he wants to take us fishing on our P-Day in a few weeks. =P
We´re going to see what he thinks of baptism when we see him this Thursday. Wish us luck!

The 4 of us here in Cañas are a bit jumpy right now. Changes are next week, and although none of us SHOULD have changes, you never really know what´s going to happen. Either Elder Litchfield or I could go. Litchfield because his companion goes home in 6 weeks, so they might have someone new come in who´ll have to learn the area, therefore keeping Elder Gonzalez. Or I could go, but who knows. We´ll find out Sunday night what the scam is.

We tried, once again, to visit the place with all the cave paintings but rotton luck struck again. Our best bet is in 2 weeks, but again there´s the chance Litchfield or I won´t be here to go. =( However, we did find the next best thing. An animal reserve, full of parrots, tucans, lynxs, pumas, monkeys, and jaguars. I got some pretty sweet pictures I´ll have to send. All in all it´s been a good day. =)

I´m finally feeling comfortable with the language. These last 2 months I´ve felt like I know the language well enough, but knowing and feeling comfortable are 2 things entirely different. Feeling comfortable for me is being able to express myself in spanish just as well as I can in english. To me, words are power. And if I can speak with force and verb, clearly, powerfully, and backed by the Spirit, there´s nothing I can´t do. I know there´s always going to be more to learn, but I feel really good with how I´ve progressed so far. =)

Alright I´ve gone on long enough. I hope everyone is doing well and that this week finds you all healthy and happy. I´m doing great, working hard, and will be celebrating along with you guys Saturday (Derek´s b-day, Andres´ baptism). I love you all and I´ll talk to you next week! Ciao!

Your Son,
Elder Nunie

P.S.- The Zits comics were a breath of fresh air. I wouldn´t mind getting those every week...if, you know, you can... =D
P.P.S.- What´s the chance I could get a Chile Selection Futbol Jersey??? An ex-missionary from Chile was at the activity last Monday and he was wearing one... =P