Week 10 "No Pictures this week, I've been too busy!"

Lij had a good and bad week this week.  The bad news for the week was that the baptism that they had scheduled backed out and she doesn't want to reschedule it. He was a little bummed about that, but he looks forward to continuing with someone else.

He told us a really cool story.  Each week Elijah writes to his Mission President to give him an update on the week.  He has written each week that he has been in Costa Rica, but was unsure if he had time to read all the missionaries.  Elijah was at a meeting the other day with a bunch of missionaries and in pops the Mission President.  He asked them to open their scriptures to Helaman 10:1-5 which says:

1 And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them.  

2.  And it came to pass that Nephi went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him.  

3.  And it came to pass as he was thus pondering-being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plundering, and all manner of iniquities-and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him saying:

4.  Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingess declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people.  And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. 

5.  Ad now, because thous hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that ll things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. 

He asked them what they thought was important about these verses.  He said that the most important thing was that they worked with unwearingness!  He said that there was an elder in their group that had knocked doors for eight hours one day, and was only let in one house.  The person there said that they were Catholic and that they were not interested.  The Elder worked with unwearingness.  When the meeting was over, the Mission President came up to him and gave him a big hug and told him to "keep working hard, Nephi."  Elijah told me that   he was the Elder.  I think that made Elijah feel pretty good!

Week 9 Humbling Experience

Here is a humbling experience that I had. We were walking and ran into a guy named Richard and asked if we could share our message with him. He said yes, so we went to a quanka, or in other places they are called favelas. He said Elders I am super sorry but I am really poor, then he opened a gate that was just a piece of wood. We walked in to see a mattress on a piece of wood on a dirt floor, and a tiny pot of beans on a tiny little survival kit stove on a little wood table no bigger than me and E's bathroom. We were teaching him and promised him that he would recieve more money and blessings if he came to church. We asked him Richard do you want that? He said Elders, money means nothing but blessings are everything! This is a man who is living almost homeless working 15 hours a day and sending what little he has to his son in Nicaragua. Humbling to say the least. 

Week 8 "Rule Number 1, Never Touch Thing!"

Elder Baker from Kentucky

This is how we feel at the end of every day!

A sweet sister made this blanket for me.

This is Luis.  He is my homie.  He reminds me of Grandpa.

We are working on getting this translated......

Elijah had a great week.  He said that he has been very busy!  "It was good week.  Honestly we didn't have much success.  One day we knocked doors for 9 hours and didn't get let in one time.  HAHA!  But hopefully we will find some investigators soon.  We have three really good ones!"

When Elijah was set apart as a missionary, he was blessed that he would be guided and directed to the very streets and houses in Costa Rica.  In his letter this week he wrote:  "We had a really cool experience last night.  Me and Elder Baker were walking down a road and were stopped by two people smoking pot!!!  They came up to us and said Elders this road isn't safe, there are robbers and a lot of drugs tonight, let us show you a better road.  I love the people here, even the drug addicts!"

The other day I sent Elijah a picture of our dinner for the night.  It was Goulash and a meal that he wasn't particularly fond of.  I asked him if he missed my cooking yet.  He said in his letter that the meal was still gross, but he would gladly eat it.  He told us that this week he ate Mondongo....Cow intestines!

Before Elijah left we had heard many stories about the showers in Central America.  I haven't got the full story or how they actually work but I do know that you can get shocked by them.  He told us that his companion was shocked really bad the other day.  He said that he had forgotten RULE #1 which is, DON'T EVER TOUCH THE THING!

Week 7 We are going to get Crackalacking!

Today we had our one month reunion with our mission president.  It was pretty cool.  

We didn't get much done this week.  My companion is not only a trainer but he is a district leader and we had a lot of meetings.  Next week we plan on getting crackalacking!

We did have a sad experience.  We were teaching a family with three daughters that were all over the age of 22.   They were super awesome and they had come to church with us.  We got a message from them saying that the daughters had started to have feelings for me and my companion and they knew that wasn't right.  So they said they thought it was best if we didn't come anymore.  It was really sad because they were awesome.

***** A side note from me:  After years and years of Elijah being one of the pickiest eaters, he told me that he misses my food so bad.  He said that the only thing that he could think about was having steak, American milk and asparagus.   

A kind sister and her family were visiting an old mission companion in Costa Rica and ran into our boy!  She sent us a picture and told us he was doing well.  She also said her friend is the Stake Relief Society President and she will look out for Lij.  

Week 6 "I was Robbed"

Heredia is beautiful.  Soccer is huge here.  They made me choose a team and I had to choose Heredia.  It is my first area and a member of a stake presidency here owns the team.  So Heredia is my team from now on.

This is a picture of me and my Mission Mom, Sister Laboriel

This is the best meal that I have had.  We bought hamburger meat and with baguettes, we made hamburgers and drank apple juice.

A sweet sister made us breakfast beans.

We don't really have a front door and the mosquitoes come in at night.  These are some of the bites I have gotten.  Don't worry though, I am wearing socks when I go to bed now.

This week was a hard one.  I got robbed!  Don't worry I smiled as I gave them what they wanted.  I kind of wish they had their own umbrella because when they took mine, it made me walk in the rain for the next few days.

  I bought a suit jacket.  It was pretty expensive.  It cost 3297 Colons (we found out that through the exchange rate this is $6.00).  
Remember the lady that I told you about that we met last week. Her name is Marilea and her son's name is Estevan (he is 9).  We were teaching her about the plan of salvation.  She told us that her husband was a pastor and he died a year ago.  She asked us if she and her husband can be together forever.  We told her that they could.  She went silent and looked at us and said "What do I need to do to be baptized?" She then said "I was baptized before and I know that church didn't have the authority, but your's does!"  

We also got put in touch with another gentleman through some other missionaries.  His name is Luis.  Luis is a member of the church, but hasn't been to church in 5 years.  He is from Florida.  He asked us to speak English, which was really strange to us.  He told us that he has been trying to come back to church for the last 2 years, but hasn't been able to get in touch with the missionaries.  He told us that we were an answer to his prayers. He was a ward mission leader in the states.  He is a great guy.  The feeling of knowing that we were an answer to his prayers was priceless.  He bawled at the end and hugged and told us thank you.  

Week 5

We did not get pictures from Elijah this week because the computers were not working right.  We did get these two pictures from the Sister who cooks for the Elders and Sisters.  She contacted me on Facebook and here is our conversation (as translated by Aunt Tatiana):

Hello Sister, I am the cook of Elder Larson.  He comes here everyday and this is the photo of today.  He is working really hard with his companion and adapting little by little to everything.

We said: "Thank you for taking care of our son.  I always worry that he is eating.  He is so skinny and it warms my heart to know that you are cooking his food.  Thank you so much!"

Anna replied: "You're welcome.  It's my pleasure to cook for all the Elders and Sister missionaries of my ward.  He is adapting little by little and he has so much willingness to serve good on his mission."

We said: "Thank you again for taking care of our son when we can't.  We are so grateful he is serving a mission to the wonderful people in Costa Rica.  We think of him always!"

Anna said: "Thank you.  I'll take care of him like one of my own children, loving sister."

It made our day. 

This week Elijah said that he finished the Book of Mormon again.  He had his first two investigators come to church.  He said "We fasted for a day about finding a family and nothing happened.  So we were bummed out.  Then on Saturday, we run into this lady who we Bible bashed with and won. We then gave her the first lesson and after the lesson was over, I had an impression to share a scripture, 3 Nephi 11:14 and so I did.  She broke down bawling and her and her son begged us to come back tomorrow!!!!  

The dogs here just keep getting worse!  I HATE DOGS.  HATE THEM.  Many of my fellow elders have fell victim to their teeth!!!"

He said that people keep asking him what part of Mexico he is from because of his Spanish.  He then tells them that he is a Gringo and they can't believe that he isn't a Native Spanish speaker.  

Week 4 "This is a beautiful country!"

This was the best meal we have had so far.  Cod and rice and beans.

This is a beautiful country! I am in an area called Heredia, specifically San Francisco.  It is really poor.  It is poorer than the reservation and straight hood!  I love my companion!  He is from Kentucky and is a monster.  The people her are loving.  Everything is expensive here so we don't get that much, like snacks!  So the other day I was pretty down and all day I was praying specifically for a ginger ale.  ALL DAY.  Sounds dumb right?  I know!  But our last visit for the night was to this recent convert.  He looks at me halfway through the lesson and says "do you want a ginger ale!"  I started totally bawling!!!  We have an area called Milpa and it is sketchy, but me and comp know we are representatives of Jesus Christ so we walk straight through.  The only thing that we are scared of is the dogs!  They are the most vile disgusting creepy ferocious creatures you have ever seen.  More than once I have ran for my life this week!  Days are long, weeks are short.  Anyway, our mission president is a savage.  We didn't get P-Day today because he split our zone at 10 and we spent the first half of the day getting there and the second half coming home!  My companion told me that he sent a bunch of people home a long time ago because the Spirit told him they weren't worthy.  Savage!  We went to the temple which was very pretty.  The members here give us a lot of food.  Let me correct that statement, a lot of rice!  Hopefully we get a real investigator this week!!!  On the sour side of things, one of my buddies from the MTC who came out with me to this mission went home.  He couldn't handle it.  Poor guy.  He had a good heart!  Here in our mission being a trainer is a huge deal.  President calls them your fathers.  My companion is such a stud that they call him the grandfather.  He is an animal.