Another Week

Rain, rain go away, come again another day...

So I'm just going to answer mom's questions (nobody else asks me anything!!!)

So the musical number last week, I played the piano and a member and Elder Garrett sang. The song was "I Know that my Redeemer Lives".  Today for P-day we just went and played soccer and basketball, and then went to Pizza Hut.  Transfers will be this Thursday and we won't know until Wednesday night. I still haven't gotten the package, they only go to the office the first Friday of every month.

So this week... I got a lot of excercise. We had a several appointments that fell through, but that's ok! It's been super rainy, so we got soaked and I just decided to start playing in the rain. Finally on Saturday we had a fantastic day. We were able to teach 7 lessons. We visited with Mayra and Beyanira (whose kids now are unsure about baptism...) And then we went and visited Sonya (she just had her first baby last Monday) and her husband has started to listen to us more! We went and visited Jimena and Sofia (daughters of a member, but still haven't been baptized and are unsure about it...) And then we went to Flavio's, and he's going through hard times (that's what always happens to recent converts). So we have so many possibilities here, we are just really working on trying to get these people excited. Yesterday we went and visited with Karen again, and we asked what she had read (I was expecting an answer like 2 pages of a pamphlet), she sighs and says, "...only 2 pamphlets" And we freaked out, we were so happy, that's the first person that I've had that has actually read all of a pamphlet... and she read 2!!! So we were able to talk with her a lot, and at the end of the lesson we asked her to pray. And she, naturally, said, "I don't know how, I don't feel ready..." but in the end we explained to her and she ended up doing it perfectly. Right when she finished she just sat there thinking and said, "I feel... something... I don't know how to explain it... it feels, good. I've never felt this before." She continued to talk to us about this feeling and asked if we felt the same the first time that we prayed. It was really nice to know that we were able to help someone feel something through something so simple as a prayer. I was really happy to have been a part of that.

That was my week, though rough at the beginning, we ended with a miracle. We just had to have a trial of our faith to be able to see the blessings.

Love you all,

-- Elder Black

   Elder Hunter Black   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                              

 Costa Rica San José   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                

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Week 42

This is a moth!  Or is it a clown...? 

Cow tongue, yum!

Mondongo (cow stomach), cow tongue, oysters,pig blood taco, octupus, clams and mango smoothie, all for lunch!

There is a leak in our shower...

So we made the "best" of it and had some fun.

Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in. We are going to go to the Q&A segment of this letter.

Questions and Answers: Transfers are next week, we will see what happens. I am not in San Jose, I am in San Rafael de Heredia. What did I eat interesting this week... I ate a pig blood taco, mondongo (cow stomach), cow tongue, oysters, clams, octopus, and a mango smoothie with coconut milk (that was all on saturday at lunch). My favorite fruit? I still like Manzanas de Agua.

So this week we had some very hard days. Tuesday, nothing. Wednesday we had a good day. We were able to have 5 lessons, all with investigators. We put baptismal dates with Jimena (an 11 year-old girl whose dad is a member) and we were able to put a new date with Carla (girlfriend of a member) and also get Flavio ready for his confirmation... but we found out that he had smoked again =( It's rough, but we just keep praying for him. On Thursday... another normal day. But on Friday we got up early to go to a multi-zone conference with Elder Amado (of the seventy) we had to be somewhere at 7...and we didn't end up getting back until 6:40. It was a really good conference and I was able to learn alot. He was really funny and a great experience too. We were there for a while to because we also got our cell phones! Oosh!! Finally! But the instant we got them everyone freaked out and was going crazy... Saturday, we had a great lesson with Flor (an investigator that has been investigating for months...) and we finally found out what her problems were with the church. It was a great lesson and will definitely help us to help her. Then, on Sunday we (me, Elder Garrett, and a member) perfomed a musical number in church. And it went over well especially considering how little we had practiced. And then that night I went and met a reference, Karen. She is the niece of a less active member. Well, Karen speaks english, asked perfect questions, already had a Book of Mormon, wants to know a lot, and immediately asked when we could come back. She's awesome!!! And then today, we went and played laser tag and I had the highest score on my team, second overall =) it was so freaking fun!

And that was my week. I would just like to make a shout out to my brother Cooper, happy birthday dude! Tune in next week for more in the life of Black.

Later,

-- Elder Black

Week 41?

Baptism!

This is what a missionary's fridge looks like, Yikes!

Calzone!

Monte de la Cruz?

Cathedral in Monte de la Cruz

So this week we didn't have very many lessons, but we had 9 investigators go to church, and we had a baptism!!! Ush, ush, ush!!!

So this last week was a little rough, I cook couldn't cook for us, so we had to eat out or make our own food. But I did learn from Elder Petlacalco (our district leader) how to make chilaquiles :) yeah, so I finally know how to make some food :) Also, one day we went and bought empanadas from Flavio, they were very good. Oh, Flavio, I went to tell him where Aunt Yamile was from, and he just says "I knew it, I knew that you were going to say that!!!" It was pretty funny. Oh, another random thing for those of you who speak spanish, Flavio prays in "Vos" haha Anyways, then on Wednesday we only taught two lessons, then at the end of the day we had to head to San José. We went to the mission home because at 3:30 they woke us up to go get fingerprints done so that we can get our residency here. We had to just wait around until 7... yeah, I was really tired, but at least I'm here legally now =) I also completed 9 months on Wednesday! Then on Thursday... another not so good day. Friday... another not so good day. Then on Saturday, I got to baptize an Argentino! And we taught some good lessons, had a good day =) Sunday, we had a good start to the week, taught some other good lessons, everything went very well. And then here I am today. Yep, that was the week.

Later!

-- Elder Black

   Elder Hunter Black   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                              

 Costa Rica San José   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                

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Conferencia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (EXCLAMATION POINT!!!!!!!!!!!) #exclamationpoint

Once again, a somewhat short letter. We had many fallen visits as the devil was trying to stop people from going to conference, so in other words, we just did a lot of walking.

So first of all... HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, KATARINA, AND MCKENNA!!! And CONGRATS GRANDMA!!! Yep, that was it (exclamation points!!!)

So like I said, the devil was working pretty hard against us, so basically we didn't really have lessons this week. On Fridaynight we were able to leave with a member (finally!!!) and he was... AWESOME!!! He acted just like a missionary, he gave good examples, he really helped us out with the people we taught. We were able to put some baptismal dates with him and he gave us ideas of things we can do better (he's an ex-missionary) and then on Saturday we had conference. I'm not going to lie, I think that it was the first conference that got me excited enough to be able to stay awake the whole time (it helped that I watched it in English too) Between all the sessions, we were able to get 7 investigators to go (it's pretty hard to get them to go, so that was really good, one of the best numbers in the zone) So we were pretty excited about that. One of those seven was Flavio, the Argentino, and he is going to be able to get baptized this week!!! So things are going good, finally after a few months I'll be having a baptism!!! Oosh Oosh Oosh!!! (what we say here in the mission) So yeah, we're pretty excited.

And then today we went to "Monte de la Cruz", it was pretty cool and had a nice view of San José. And we were informed that we will all be getting cell phones tomorrow!!!! Finally!!! I'm so excited, it's going to make the work a lot easier.

So yeah, that was my week. Oh, and favorite conference talks... hmm. I liked one in particular!!! I hope you know which one! And then that of Elder Ballard, and of Edward Dube. I don't have my notes with me right now, but those were the ones I liked.

Anyway, thanks for reading everyone, hasta luego!!!

And again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND CONGRATS!!!

--Elder Black

   Elder Hunter Black   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                              

 Costa Rica San José   

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                                

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P.S. I did get grandma's letter =) Just in case she's wondering, just got it this week.