Week 46 "I had some sketchy stuff happen this week"

Elijah had a stressful but good week this last week.  He wrote the following:

"Well I got a call from the Church saying that something went wrong and that a sister was going to be deported out of Costa Rica.  The man that called from the Church was like "Elder you need to get this fixed now!"  Needless to say this sister had to serve in her home country awhile and the other secretary didn't send her papers with her.  Anyway, I got everything fixed.  President called me and said "Elder, you are a good missionary!"

He told us that Elder Alonso came from the Quorum of Seventies.  Lij said that was a special experience.  

No pictures this week.  He said that there is not much to take pictures of when you work in the office!

Week 45 "In the Office Every Day till 8"

Elijah didn't have too much to say this week.  He said that he has been so busy in the office that there is little time to teach.  But that is okay.  They are working hard.  

He said:  "Well, 15 new missionaries got her and then I got a call saying that two more were reassigned to our mission as an emergency.  So basically I've been in the office the whole week.  Also, I went and took all of my buddies to the airport and we all bawled together.   It was sad."

We are very excited to talk to him this Sunday.  It will be Mother's Day and it can't come soon enough!

Week 44 "Javier was Baptized"

Elijah was super excited to tell us that Javier got baptized.  It was really special.  Javier had a good friend Eddy, who introduced him to the church. Elijah was lucky enough to teach him and baptize him.  

Elijah told us that this week he took one of the AP's around town to buy gifts for his family.  He is about to go home.  Elijah said that he has become good friends with the AP's and have know them since he came to Costa Rica.  He said that it will be really sad when they leave.  

He told us the following story about his week:  "I was doing a money balance of $2000 that I used for immigration.  It was to show the church that I wasn't stealing any money.  And I was missing $40.  I was so upset!  For eight hours I was looking through everything to see if there was another receipt or something that I missed.  Then after millions of prayers I felt as if I should look at the conversion receipt.  The bank destroyed me in the conversion!  I had to go from dollars to colones to dollars to colones and I got destroyed!  I was so relieved! hahahahahaha"

He also told us that he has been working hard in the office and will be there late every day because they are preparing for a General Authority to come.  Elder Alonso is coming and the missionaries in the office are preparing everything.  It should be very exciting.  

Week 43 "The Haka"

Elder Larson had a great week. His is busy and working hard.  He sent this video to us after finding out that his dad is 3% Samoan.  The missionaries in his mission do the Haka quite often.

He is set to baptize Javier this Saturday as well as two other investigators.  He is loving working in the office, but also being able to work with the members in his area and the investigators.  

Here is an excerpt of what he wrote his Mission President this week:

Hello President,
     How are you?!  I am alive and dynamic and excited to teach repentance and baptize coverts!  This week has been great, President.  Every day we get up at 4:00 in the morning to teach an investigator, and we will continue to do so until this next Saturday when he is going to be baptized.  It's been great.  We are working hard, and Elder Biasi is great!  We are working hard here!  We are seeing miracles, President.  There is a chance that we will achieve the goal of the Lord this month.  We have three investigators with a date of April 29 to be baptized.  We are encouraged.  The key will be this Sunday.  We had a miracle!  One of our investigators will be Javier.  Javier is from El Salvador, but his family lives in the United States.  He wrote his mother in the States to tell her that the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were teaching him and that he will be baptized.  Do you know what happened? His mother wrote him and said the she was an active member our our church and bore her testimony to this church being the true church and that he needs to be baptized on April 29.  What a miracle, President!  We serve a God of miracles.  I have not communicated with this sister in the States, but I am sure she prays for her son that he would find the truth.  What a great miracle.  This investigator is fasting so that God will strengthen him!  I am truly grateful for all that the Lord has given me, for my blessings, to learn and that my sacrifices sometimes when I put everything on the alter and I pray, my God will help me.  He will strengthen me.  I know my Savior, and I love him.

Week 42 "We had a good week"

Elder Larson had a great week this week.  He said that he was able to see miracles this week.  He and his companion haven't had much luck with their proselyting.  They work in the office every day and there is very little time to find investigators.  That all changed this week.  Here is what Lij said:

"We met a guy named Javier.  He can only be taught at 6:00 in the morning, so we wake up at 4 a.m. to teach him.  He is an immigrant from El Salvador and is only available in the morning.  It is a thirty minute walk from our place, so we wake up at 4:00 a.m. shower, iron and get dressed so we can go teach him.

Another investigator that we found is Mercedes.  We found Mercedes contacting.  She is from Nicaragua and went to church for five years while she lived in Guatemala.  She is waiting for a divorce and her husband is a member.  When she told him that she was going to meet with us, he had her send pictures to prove it.  He lives in Nicaragua!

Henry is from Nigeria.  He only speaks English.  He fled Nigeria because people there were trying to kill him.  He fled to Venezuela and realized it was horrible there as well.  He told us that one his way to Costa Rica he had to walk through the Columbian jungles for seven days.  He walked without food and almost died.  He saw a lot of people die and ended up here".

Elder Larson sounds like he is happy and we are happy for him.  He said that he hasn't been able to take any pictures because he is afraid of getting his camera taken (his area is a little sketchy).  He also said there isn't much to take pictures of since he is in the office all day. 

Week 41 "Same Old, Same Old"

No new news from Elder Larson this week.  He has been very busy in the office.  He said that he had an Elder who was changing missions come this week and it required he spend more time than usually in the office.  He didn't leave the office this last week until well after 8:00 each day.  Lij said that there wasn't much time to do any proselyting.

Week 40 "Another Emergency Transfer"

This week Elijah told us that he had an emergency transfer.  From what we gathered from his email, two elders that were living in La Carpio got in a fist fight and there needed to be an emergency transfer.  Elijah was the one that the President decided to send.  He told us that we needed to look up La Carpio and find out about it.  We did, and here is what we learned:  

La Carpio is the poorest neighborhood in Costa Rica.  It is basically a neighborhood made up of immigrants, Nicaraguans to be exact.  Here are some pictures from the web that we found of it:

It's interesting because he went from the wealthiest areas in Costa Rica, Escazu to the poorest in a matter of two weeks.  He is excited for the challenge and especially excited that his new apartment has hot showers!

He said that he is not there most of the time.  He spends his days in Escazú where the office is.  At night he returns to La Carpio to proselyte.  It should be interesting and he should be there for the next four and half months.  

He is working with a family of five currently, that have previously taken the discussions.  They moved away and recently moved back to La Carpio.  They have already read the Book of Mormon and have a testimony of Joesph Smith.