Week 58 "My New Zone"

Well here are some pictures of my week! Pretty crazy there isn't much that I have to write! Just worked hard with my companion and tried to get to know our zone! Pretty fun! We had a meeting with President and the Stake President.  When the Stake President saw me, he was so happy, I actually got really red!  He completely praised me in front of President saying that I was the missionary that turned the tide in the San Fransisco area, which is crazy because that thought never occured to me, and he told President that the prodigal son has returned! It was nuts.

 In our area right now and our zone when I got here there was absolutely nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our zone had 3 baptisms last month and our area has 1 investigator who went to church for the first time sunday. So my theory is proven correct! I am always sent to the places where there is nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But for me that is the fun part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I did divisions with one of the elders in my zone and we went to his area and put 7 fechas for this month and they all came to church. An area that for a long time has never killed it like that! Anyway love you guys I hope that you have a fun trip to Scottsdale!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you All

-- 

Elder Elijah Larson

Yiego Nal Nish

Week 57 "I'm back in Heredia"

We got a quick little email from Elder Larson on Monday.  He was transferred out of the office and he is now in San Rafael de Heredia.  He said that it was about 15 minutes from his very first area.  He is now companions with Elder Lopez, who only has 6 weeks left on his mission.  

On Tuesday night we got some pictures from Maribel and Hector.  Elijah baptized them back in October of last year.  It was so great to see him with this wonderful family and they were excited to see Elijah again. 

Week 56 "I'm out of the Office"

This week we got a really short letter.  Elijah is being transferred out of the office on Monday.  His new P-Days will be on Monday again.  He told us that Bryan got baptized, which is exciting and that he is really happy to get out in the field again.  We will find out on Monday where he is going.  He also said that his replacement as Immigration Secretary is Elder Geiger, one of his first companions.  He was very happy about that.

Week 55 "Bryan is Getting Baptized Today"

Well to start off this weekly letter it is the week of miracles, where we work even harder, and we actually don´t even go to office. It is pretty awesome! This week was pretty fast! Sometimes you are working so hard that you can´t even remember what you have done! But some of the highlights of this week for me was teaching Byran who is getting baptized tonight! Pretty awesome experience.  He is just amazing! It amazes me that people are so prepared to recieve the Gospel such as this guy! He is awesome this week he read about 25 chapters out of the book of mormon and watched three of those living scriptures movies about the Book of Mormon! I always am completely blown away by his prayers when he says ¨I am grateful for the Prophet José Smith, I know that he was a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.¨ It always just makes me so happy! 

Besides that, this week was one of those weeks where we just got completely rejected! Utterly rejected! We knocked doors every day for 4-5 hours before our appointments at night and I can only remember being able to enter 1 house!!!!!! But something that I have learned on my mission is that it does nothing to get down about things! Just makes you miserable! I have truly learned to be happy in whatever circumstance! We only have 1 umbrella between the two of us, its a long story, but it was pouring and me and my companion just laugh! Trying to share this umbrella and getting soaked! I have learned that the funniest and happiest moments are the moments that seem to be the most miserable put that you make happy! 

We are teaching a family of nine right now, they are from Nicarauga, but they always feed us. Always! And we love them.  But one of them is an older man his name is Erasmo. He is about 58, but his hair is still black and he has worked a hard labor job since he was 8 years old, so he is still in better shape than most 40 year olds. But he has come to church about 3 times and is awesome.  Just like most people that live in Costa Rica they have a hard time giving up their dang coffee. He was telling us his life story, And I couldn´t help it, I just started bawling. He was beat by his mom. She even slashed him with a machete, and his Grandpa saved his life, and then when he was a older teenager, he got taken by the army and was forced to fight for 5 years. And I just couldn´t hold back the tears. We just take for granted the blessings that we have. The fact that we don´t have to worked cuting coffee at 8 years old to feed your family. Or any of the stuff that this poor man had to deal with. Trying to hold back the tears, I told him ¨Erasmo sé que hay una persona que ha sentido todo lo que usted ha aguantado, y que el nunca le abandonó y es nuestro Salvador Jesucristo. (Erasmus I know that there is a person who has felt everything that you have endured, and the he never left you, and is our Savior Jesus Christ).¨ Simple words but I could feel the spirit testify of them. Very very humbling being here in such a great country with such wonderful people. 

To finish off the week of miracles we had an activity called Culture night, where everyone invited people and then brought food from their country.  We hadn´t had time to make anything so for our lunch hour so we sacrificed it to make something quick easy and American (at least we think its american) Pancakes hahahahahaahha! Personally I´m not a big pancake fan unless they have chocolate chips but I made 40 pancakes in 40 minuets and we got ahold of some maple syrup and went to the activity with those.  By the time we got there, the pancakes where cold but I have never seen such a swarm over food like I did! The ticos where obssed with the pancakes!!!! Some came back algunos veces for pancakes, (I don´t remember how to say that in english!) But it was awesome and we had a ton of investigators there, and they loved it! 

Also a funny little experience that we had, we went to visit the family of Erasmo with or ward mission leader this last Thursday, and we were teaching the Plan of Salvation and all the family goes to church with us except for Juan who is like the father of the family. And we where explaining the Mundo de los espíritus about spirit paradise and spirt prision. And our  WML says Elders what happens to the people who hear the gospel and then reject it, and we said, well they would go to spirit prison and he says ¨Oiga Juan¨and the whole entire family starts laughing and clapping their hands! For three or four minuets laughing hysterically! Elder Power and I just looked at each other horrified! We didn´t know what to say! In the same lesson they where asking about what day jesus was born on! And they where all arguing over it. But our lider misional says the day that Jesus was born was the day that I accepted him in my heart! And they erupted again and started yelling amen and halleluah and clapping their hands and it was crazy once again my companion and I just looked at each other wondering what we even should do! But it was a fun experience and they all are going to come to church! And hopefully once they quit coffee they will all be able to be baptized!

Well on the spiritual side, I feel as if my favorite scripture changes every week. But this week my favorite scripture in the Book Of Mormon is 3 Nephi 27:27 I challenge you all to read it but I love love love it when it says ¨Por lo tanto, ¿Que clase de hombres habéis de ser? En verdad os digo Aun Como Yo Soy. I love this scripture what time of men (or women) should we be? Even as our savior I love that, many times while I am doing something this thought comes into my head and I think, Am I being like the savior. Surely if we all thought like this it would change how we think and act. 

And my favorite scripture in the bible is the following. Juan 3 19 

 Y esta es la condenación: que la luz vino al mundo, pero los hombres amaron más las tinieblas que la luz, porque sus obras eran malas.  I love this scripture as well, in the end our damnation will be that our savior came to this word but we didn´t follow him because we loved our little sins. Our ¨pet¨sins as Uncle Kevin says (he was my seminary teacher as a freshman). And I love the power of this scripture! 

But this is all I have to write this week! I will tell yall next week how Byran's baptism went! 

I know that this is the true Church of God and that He loves His children, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that we have a prophet here today! I know my Savior lives.

-- 

Elder Elijah Larson

Yiego Nal Nish

Week 54 "We had a Baptism"

Hello Family and Friends,

The time has come in which I will finally start to write weekly emails! This week was crazy! I started off the week working on migration things and got stuck in the migration office for 5 hours last Monday, which was absolutely crazy, and like always just worked my tail off on migration all weeks. But this week I had a sad experience. Elder Power and I finished our work in the office Wednesday and left to go teach.  We were walking down the road in San Jose Centro and my companion heard a scream.  We saw a old lady laying on the side of the road, super sad.  She had been hit by a bus and went flying and landed on the side of the road. If there is one thing that I could tell you guys about Costa Rica it is that it rains almost always during the winter, and when it rains it pours. So it was pouring outside, and I saw her on the other side of the road. So my companion and I broke out into a full out sprint. We ran through the traffic and were going as fast as we could! I was running so fast that I totally tripped and ate it! But I was so worried about this old lady that I just got up and kept running (totally bruised my pelvis).  When we got to her, she was screaming. And I just got to work (so grateful that I am an Eagle Scout).  I took off my raincoat and put it over here, put my umbrella over her, and took off my backpack and put her head on it! She then lifted up her head and I saw a pool of blood on my bag, and then knew that it was extremely serious. I had the oppurtunity to hold this old lady´s hand and tell he that it was all going to be ok. As she lay bleeding onto my backpack. It was at this moment where there was no doubt that I LOVE THESE PEOPLE. I LOVE THIS COUNTRY. And that I would do anything for anyone of them. I held her hand until the Red Cross came and with my companion and two paramedics lifted her up into the strecher, then carried her (the four of us) to the ambulence. We prayed with her, and I wish that I would have given her a blessing.  There was a lot of police around us though, and so we just prayed with her. 

Also, this week we had a baptism of a little guy named Luis. He is 9 years old and all his family are members even his 8 year old brother, but he lived with his mom who has been innactive forever. So he moved here to live with his grandma.  She is a primary teacher here in the ward so she brought him church and we taught him the lessons in two sundays and he got baptized this week! My companion did the baptism! The poor kid started crying right before he got in because he was scared of drowning! I assured him that it would be ok, and told him that he was a brave kid, and that I will bring him a Snickers Sunday, but that he has to be brave! So then he dried his eyes and went in like a boss! It was very humbling to see the grandma during all of this.  She was so happy that her grandson was being baptized and she hugged him and kissed him on the forehead. An awesome lady. 

Also, we are teaching a kid named Bryan that we found last Friday! This kid is what we call a Escogido or someone that is completely prepared to be baptized. 100 percent!  We found him Friday and he came to church Sunday, and loved it.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and in 1 week he has read about 11 chapters, the Liahona, and all of the lesson pamplets and watched talks from the Prophet and Quorum of the Twelve.  When we were with him yesterday he said something that I will never forget.  In his prayer he said Thank you Heavenly Father for the prophet Jospeh Smith. I KNOW HE WAS A PROPHET OF GOD. Then when we watched Dare to Stand Alone by President Monson he told us "that man is a prophet, I have no doubt!" But the best thing that he said was when we taught the Plan of Salvation. Uncle Kevin always told me that his favorite thing was when he taught the Plan of Salvation and they told him that it sounded familiar. I have always remembered those words and waited for that response. When we taught Byran the Plan of Salvation he told us "It is all so clear, and I feel such peace, It all makes sense now. No other church or person has made me feel like this. I know that this is the true church of God."

I look at my companion just completely amazed. Completely amazed. That the Lord had prepared this 19 year old (Byran) so so so much to be baptized in his church. The best part, he lives 100 meters from the church literally I can throw a rock and get fairly close to his house!  I know that Heavenly Father prepares his children to recieve this gospel I have seen it I have felt it. I know it. I know that the Lord blesses his missionaries. Byran has his baptismial interview tonight and if everything goes acording to plan he will be baptized next Saturday  July 15 and be confirmed on the 16.  How amazing. We worship the God of miracles.

I challenge you all to read and sing the song testimony, it is without a doubt my favorite hymn! And everytime I feel down I sing it! 

I know that this letter is all over the place but it is for times sakes!!!!!

Love Yall

Su misionero, 

y siervo del Dios De Israel 

Week 53 "I've Got Some Good News and Some Bad News"

Lij had a great week!  He had a baptism and a wedding.  They have been planning this baptism and wedding for quite awhile and they weren't quite sure it was going to happen.  It did happen, and Elijah was thrilled.  He forgot to send us pictures, but hopefully this next week he will.

Now for his bad news.....He said he knew this was coming for awhile but the way he emails us every week has changed.  In the past he has written to us on his P-Day and most of the time we are able to email back and forth.  His Mission President now changed that.  He is only able to write one letter.  Needless to say, mom is pretty sad.  

Here is his letter for the week:

Well mom the time has finally come for the long-awaited rule that i figured would come. Monday they sent us a message saying that we can no longer chat with our parents as in

can´t send a message and then they respond and then we respond and that kind of stuff, it is not to say that you can´t write me a letter after this one just that I can´t respond!

But don´t worry mom it will be okay, I was super sad when I read this because I thought directly about you. Made me quite bummed to be completly honest, but what a 

blessing that I was able to do it a whole year of my mission. What a huge blessing it has been to talk to you like that. So I will tell you about my week now!

This week firstly, last Saturday we had the wedding and baptism, which was super awesome, the wedding was simple and only 3 members came to support, but it was 

really fun and they loved it! Also the lawyer is a member of the church and he totally started preaching up a storm about the plan of salvation! Crazy stuff all of it! But

then we had the actual baptism and let me tell you mom that water was without a doubt the coldest water that I have ever expierenced in my ENTIRE life,

they had to fill it up the day before because the water was going to go out last Saturday ¨supposedly¨and so that is what they did. The bad part was that made it 

literally the coldest thing ever! EVER! So when i got in I literally made a squealing noise! But the baptism was super peaceful and it was fun, they actually invited us over 

for the wedding party and gave us a ton of food that was super awesome! This week, I had to take all of the new missionaries to go get their fingerprinting and 

backround checks done so that took basically the whole day, also I had to go to the embassies and do some paper work there! The Funny part was in the Embassy

of El Salvador I totally fell asleep and it was completely hillarious! I was so tired! Also this week acutally yesterday was the Leadership Council it was awesome because

I got to see Elder Baker who only has 9 weeks left as a missionary (which is completely crazy because I remember the day that he finished 1 year in the mission) And it 

is always fun just to talk with him and see how he is doing! But all in all it has been fun this week! Pretty crazy to be honest! It is already july kinda weirds me out! 

We also found a couple of awesome investigators that we are extremly excited to teach because they are awesome!  Well this is what happened this week I can´t really 

think about anything else 

Love you MOM! LOVE YOU