It was an overall boring week this week... so this isn't going to be a very long letter.

Answers to questions: What do we do for Conference? Well, we have to go to our stake center to watch it, so I will have to go to Heredia to watch it. And no, I hadn't heard about the Priesthood Session being on TV, they don't have it on TV here so everyone has to watch it either in the church, or online. And yes, my MP3 still works =) Thanks to a tender mercy =) Oh, and mom, that one picture is of a LEGIT Costa Rican taco... yeah, it's not as good as yours =)

So this week we had a lot of appointments fall through, people didn't accept us, or just weren't home, etc. On Tuesday we were able to meet with a new investigator (the girlfriend of the less-active member that I talked about last week), and her name is Carla. Turns out she's only 17, she's really shy, but has a desire to change her life. We had two lessons with her this week, and they went over pretty well. We also met with Flavio on Tuesday, he has some Word of Wisdom problems, so we are hoping that he will be able to drop those soon... We also found a good new Nica family that will hopefully start progressing, but, I think it'll be a little harder with them. On Wednesday we had interviews with President Wilkinson, and that went really well, he helped motivate me to keep working hard, and to make good changes here in my area of San Rafael. He told me that I'm a good missionary and to keep up the good work. So I left my interview feeling very good. Thenon Friday, we taught piano lessons (we do every Friday...) and then did "divisions". I was going with the Young Men's president (Irving, 24, getting ready to go on a mission, recent convert) but it was the YM's turn to clean the church... the only 2 that even showed up didn't really help, so Irving and I cleaned the whole church!!! So by the time we finished that, we went to Irving's house and taught his mom, Flor (investigator) and that was it. But that lesson went over well and she did go to church =) And then today we went to a waterfall where it was very cold, we got all wet, it started raining (I was the only 1/6 that had an umbrella) and I had to cover everyone with my umbrella, we all started shivering, but then we came back to San Rafael and bought Calzones =) And I'm still here freezing, so my letter is done.

Love you all, thanks for all the support!

-- Elder Black

   Elder Hunter Black   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                              

 Costa Rica San José   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                

sdfas2013-20142014

A Great Week!

Hey everyone! Life just keeps going! Time just keeps on speeding up here in the work! Well, here are the answers to questions.

About my area: We have people that make us lunch everyday, and dinner... that's just if people choose to give us food or not. We have to wash our own laundry, but where we live there's a washing machine that we are allowed to use. What do our Mamas do? It's just that, they act like our moms... they give us food, talk to us, etc. The members in these last areas have been involved with the missionaries. We are always trying to get them to leave with us, and that's where they aren't as involved, but yes, there are members that just love the missionaries.

Well, this week was a pretty good week. It started out kind of slow with a lot of fallen appointments, some confusion, and other things. But, then on Tuesday we were able to get some new investigators, visit some good investigators, and have some good, unexpected successes =) We met a Nicaraguan (I don't think I've said that there are lots here) who seemed un-interested in our message, but when returned a later day, she was the only one who listened to us, told us the things that she doesn't like about her church, and asked questions about the Plan of Salvation... GOLDEN!!! Then, on Wednesday, we had a bad day... But then Thursday we met with Ivania, a new investigator from last week, and she turned out to be GOLDEN!!! She really wanted to know about repentance, and she committed to go to church right from the first lesson! Then on Friday... a bad day, except for one thing. We met with another daughter of Ivania, Ivi. I was talking to her while Elder Garrett helped some other people with english, and right there, from the first contact, I taught her about the Book of Mormon, and she already requested a copy. Once again... GOLDEN!!! Then on Saturday we taught a bunch of quick lessons because everyone said that they didn't have time for us... but then that night we went to Flavio's and we taught all of the Restoration, well, actually, he taught us! He already had a Book of Mormon, was reading it, and taught us about it... GOLDEN!!! Also, if I haven't said, he's from Argentina and makes really good food, he made us calzones =) Yeah, it was a great week. And then yesterday, Sunday, Ivania and her daugher, Aleani went to church, Flavio went to church, and the girlfriend of a less active member went to church too! We had an awesome week. We are working hard together and we are starting to see the fruits.

That was basically what happened this week. Now for some interesting/funny things that happened this week: So I had a lot of luck this week. I had somebody give me an old coin that they don't use here anymore (I have a collection), people gave us food, fruit, etc. I learned that there is a ping-pong table in our church, etc. But then, Thursday, my MP3 broke =( It didn't work at all. Then on Sunday we were commenting on how we had listened to Elder Garrett´s CD about 20 times, and I was like, "That's because my MP3 broke, but if God loves me, if God loves me it'll work!" Then I grabbed it and touched a button... and it worked! I was so shocked and just gasped and smiled. Elder Garrett said that my face was priceless. 

Yeah, that was a week in the life of Elder Black, thanks for listening, bye!

--Elder Black

   Elder Hunter Black   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                              

 Costa Rica San José   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                

sdfas2013-20142014    

Another Week in the Life of ME!

Elder Black and Elder Garrett (look at the phone cord! :) )

Package from home!

McKenna drew this awesome picture...

I'm not going to lie, I don't really remember what I did this week, I've been pretty out of it lately... 

To answer questions: Oh.. wait, nobody asked me any...

So this week, on Wednesday we did divisions. I went to Santo Domingo with Elder Perez (Mexican, has 3 months in the mission) and we taught some really weird people... one started asking us... inappropriate questions about the gospel, and another (a drunk) was trying to explain to us how according to the Bible, it's ok to drink wine... it was a very interesting day. Then, the following morning, we went to Heredia to help with a service project. We loaded more than 2,000 milk cartons into a truck (that took 3 processes, from the church to outside, from outside to next to the truck, and next to the truck to in the truck) My arms got so sore, and cut up (one of the elders was throwing the boxes with the cartons to/at me) and so I was really sore the next couple of days. Then on Thursday I came back and worked with Elder Garrett like normal. Yep... that's about it, except from Thursday, I don't remember a thing. I was so tired and crazy. And yeah, that's it.

Oh, actually we did have one cool experience. We taught a lesson to Flavio (Argentine, really good investigator) and we invited him to baptism. He said, "Of course! But I will have to go to church more and read more of the Book of Mormon." And we just sat there in shock. Why? For those of you that don't know, that is a response that we never hear. No one ever says that they have to read more, they normally just try to find an excuse not to do anything, so it was really cool, we will be working a lot with him.

Well, that was my week, tune in next week for more on the "Mission of Elder Black" Goodbye!

--Elder Black

   Elder Hunter Black   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                              

 Costa Rica San José   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                

sdfas2013-20142014    

An Interesting Week...Again!

The mission is still pretty weird right now, there are a lot of things happening, but like normal, I have to answer questions first.

To answer the first question, I ended up having emergency changes... again. So I am now in my fourth area... San Rafael! I am still here in Heredia, just another area in this zone. I was in Heredia II/Barva for 3 weeks, then I went to San Francisco I for a week (as a trainer), and now I'm here in San Rafael. All are here in Zona Heredia. My new comp is... a gringo... Elder Garrett! Yeah, the same Elder Garrett that I started with in Naranjo, I am now in San Rafael de Heredia with him. No, we haven't all gotten cell phones yet, and I don't know when we will. I haven't gotten my stuff yet, but I did call Marialena to organize how I'm going to get it. So I'll get it this Saturday.

Ok, so now to what happened this week. On Monday I was informed that my comp, Elder Elvira had to go to the hospital for treatments, so I was going to be with Elder De Leon until Friday, more or less. Then Tuesday we talked to the zone leaders and they said that they had to cover my area, so we planned to do divisions Wednesday so that I could show them where to go. Tuesday, we learned that a girl that we had been teaching wanted to get baptized! The family told me that I had really helped in that process so I was really happy. We had a great day with 6 lessons, and that really good news. Then I called the zone leaders to ask how we were going to do the divisions, and they just said, "Elder Black! Esta animado?! Tiene cambios de emergencia!!!" "Elder Black! Are you excited?! You have emergency changes!!!" Me: "Seriously... again?!" Them: "Yeah, you are going to San Rafael with Elder Garrett!" Me: "Seriously? I was already with him before." Them: "Yeah, well you get to be with him again, so come to the house, pack all your things and get ready to leave first thing in the morning." So I went and packed and all that jazz. So then I came here to San Rafael with Elder Garrett and just got to work. It's kinda cold here, I'm in a branch again that's going to need some work, but that's what I'm here for right? So yeah, just like in my other letters, I'm just getting to know the area, so I don't really have much to say. It's pretty cool being with a gringo cause we can talk in English, make movie quotes, jokes, and more! And, being together another time, I can actually do more than just sit there in the lessons, we can work together now. So it's all good.

Well that's my interesting week for you all. Love you! 

-- Elder Black

   Elder Hunter Black   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                              

 Costa Rica San José   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                

sdfas2013-20142014    

Interesting Week!

So I have had an interesting week... it probably won´t be as interesting to you guys, but it was an extremely weird week...

To answer a question, we still don´t know anything about my comp, we find out tonight.  And dad, cool story! Congrats in the Pinewood derby Carter. Oh, and now I really want to try the coke from Costa Rica... And my temporary comp is really jealous of all the pictures of the Coca-Cola store.

Alright, now for what happened. Well, we worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday normal. But, Wednesday night we got a phone call and they told me that I had to leave right then to another area (temporary, 2 days) to be with someone while his comp had emergency changes. So I went (it´s another area in my district) and I stayed with Elder De Leon and the assistants took the other elder for emergency changes. So, temporarily, I am training a newb. He only has 3 weeks here, we decided that since his trainer (dad) left, I´m just his babysitter. Also, we ended up having a lot of emergency changes, I have no idea why, but everything is a little crazy right now. So long story short. I´m still here in a different area just waiting to know where I´m going, and also who my comp is going to be... everything! We won´t know anything until tonight, we´ve been in limbo for 5 days. But, like I said, for the time being, I am training in a different area (San Francisco). So basically I´ve just been getting to know a new area, a new comp, a new position (senior comp/trainer), and yeah, it´s all just super weird. It should all be sorted out tomorrow though. But right now, all is good in this area. They assist the same church as the other ward I was in, so now I know the majority of the people that assist church =) But yeah, the members are good here, there are lots of investigators, and a lot of potential. We´ll see what happens. And that´s about it for now, we´re all just a bit confused, so I should have more next week.

¡Hasta luego!

-- Elder Black