Ok Team,
This week was very...... different. Lots of good, lots of
bad, tons of weird.
Easter in Costa Rica is very different. They celebrate the
Semana Santo or the Holy Week or The Final Week of Christs Life. For one whole
week almost every pulperia is closed and on Thursday and Friday even the buses
weren't in use. Friday was especially hard for us to teach because we couldn't
use the buses to travel to the other towns where our investigators live. So it
became a Finding New Investigators day. But it was hard because it was Viernes
Santo or Holy Friday. Ahhh.... Semana Santo, the only week of the year where
everyone lives there religion. Good times.
We watched one of the ceremonies that they do as well as
drove by the same ceremony in the week. About 200-300 Costa Ricans march,
dressed up as Roman Soldiers and march around the block in the slowest manner
possible. It takes 3 hours of march for the march to be complete. It was funny
because Elder Estrada and I were walking with Michael, our landlord, in the
opposite direction of where a lot of the Ticos were traveling. We were in Agua
Caliente which is the shady part of Cartago. Me, being a white, blonde haired,
blue eyed missionary of a different Church than the ceremony in the shady part
of my area, I felt like I stood out a little bit. I dont know why I felt that.
The work goes forward.
Elder Johnson told me that I would find the Costa Rican
versions of everyone I know from back home. So far I have found the Costa Rican
versions of Grandma Margo, Mom, Brittany my cousin, and Jennifer Lawrence.
Thats all I can think of right now but if I remember others I'll write them in.
BTW, one of the Ticos named Angie looked at my facebook profile and all my
friends and thinks that Brendon is muy guapo. She's looking for a husband and
has decided to move to Utah to find one. Your welcome bro.
Anyways, the Tico version of Mom is named Patricia. She is
awesome. Her and her husband are our greatest investigators right now.
Yesterday they came to church and they just eat up the information we give
them. She gives her husband the same exact look that Mom gives Dad after he's
said something just to bug her. It's hilarious. She calls him Tanto all the time
too!!! The translation for the word is silly but when you use it in this
sentence, "No hace algo tanto" it translates to "Dont do
anything stupid". She said that and my mind immediately translated it to
"Moron". Her hair is the same style, does the same faces, and even
insults the same way!!! JAJAJA.
Elder Estrada lost are house keys last night so we couldnt
return home until our landlord came home. This was no accident, him losing the
keys. Divine Intervention. We decided to travel down to one of our
investigators houses deep in Cocori to fill the time. They couldn't talk with us
but as we were walking back, Elder Estrada followed a prompting to turn and
contact a house. The mother was an LPE or someone he spoke with on the bus the
previous day. We went in and began to teach them. This is where it gets
interesting. We sat down and the woman he contacted was drunk. We talked with all
4 people but the drunk mom wanted to practice her English with me. She told me
about how hard life is and how mean this family was to her. She told of how she
wasnt married to the man in the house and how mean he is. She spoke of how it
is the perfect time for her to receive the Gospel. She also told me of how she
is 4 months pregnant and yada yada yada. So my attention was on her. Elder
Estrada focused one the other three and we now have 4 new investigators and 3
of them now have baptismal dates for May 18th. We returned to the house with me
in bewilderment because I've never talked with a drunk for a long period of
time. We walked into the house and immediately found our keys.
The Spirit knows us. He knows all actually. He is preparing
every one of us for special experiences and opportunites for coming unto Our
Father in Heaven. We must be as Nephi and go forward with faith, not knowing
beforehand, and sometimes not even afterhand, the things we should do.
Mom, one of the things that has revolutionized my scripture
study, is studying for other people. your calling is that of the Relief Society
President and as such you are entitled to that stewardship of receiving
revelation for those whom you serve. The scriptues are the doorway to
revelation. Always begin your study with prayer and ask for direction. Think
specifical about one of the sisters in the ward that is having a hard time or
needs some help. As you study, I promise that the Spirit will lead to those
things that you can do to help. This is what we do every morning. When we study
for others and begin looking for opportunities to serve, we begin to realize
that the Lord molds us into a tool that He can use to move His work forward. I
love in the scriptures where Jesus is teaching both his Apostle in Luke, and
the Nephites in 3 Nephi. "If your eye be single, then shall your body be
full of light" In Doctrine and Covenants Section 4 we learn that having an
eye single, means having it single to the glory of God. And again in Moses 1:39
we learn that the glory of God is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal
life of man. In other words, when we focus on helping out others, we can be
full of light and move forward as an instrument in His hands. I found this
earlier this week of I've been waiting to share that :) Maybe that can help you
with your studies.
About time with Pebbles, jajaja
Anyways I love you all,
Siga Adelante,
Elder Neider
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