Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Turriabla, Cartago, Costa Rica 12.21.15

Dear Family,

So I am officially one week away from coming home. Little by little, I can feeling it all coming to a close. It went by crazy fast though. Lately i have been thinking about my mission looking back and seeing how I have changed. I can see that i have changed just a little bit here and there but overall I feel pretty the same. 
I had a pretty cool experience a couple of minutes ago actually. We were eating lunch at a local Carl's Jr. in San Jose. A man walked in a began to hand some papers to the people. He came to me and I read what it said. Basically it was him selling lollipops to take care of his family. Usually missionaries and members here have the attitude of I'm not going to give because you are probably just going to buy alcohol. But as I saw him I just felt a great sense of love for him as my brother. I gave him a card with the "A Savior is Born" incentive and gave him a few dollars without purchasing the lollipop. 
I felt as he walked away, the thought of "why did you just give him the money?" And the only thing I could think of was that I loved him. I felt that it was just a brief brush with charity. But it was meaningful for me. I feel that I have a sincere love for the ticos and I want them to truly come unto Christ and receive these blessings. 
I know that Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan. He is very conscience of our needs. He knows our names. 
I recently have found that the thirteenth article of faith is a promised blessing for believing the Articles of Faith 1-12. As we do and believe those things, we will become honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and will want to do good to all men. We will begin to look for that which is "virtuous, lovely, of good report and those things that are praiseworthy". We will have faith and believe all things, hope for all things things, and be able to endure all things. 
I know that the scriptures are to be lived, not just read. I know that the promises that the Lord makes us are real. May we all receive the gift of becoming this christmas. Have a very merry one!

Sigamos Adelante, 

-Elder Neider

Monday, December 14, 2015

Turriabla, Cartago, Costa Rica 12.14.15

Dear Family,

Glad to hear that Grandma is doing better. I hope that they can make it up. It just wouldn't be the same without them.

Well bueno. Hermana Flor will not be getting baptized on the 19th. But she is converted and has made goals for January. She is just struggling a little with coffee and cigarettes. But she is a fighter and I know that she'll be ok in January. But it is possible that we might still have 2 baptisms this month. Yorlene and Carlos were waiting for a wedding in January but we found a lawyer that said he could marry them free when they want. So they want to get married this week or next week, as well as get baptized. So we are holding out for that. We could use some prayers that all will go well. I sure hope so. It would be 2 baptisms the saturday before I head home.
Haha I don't have too much to report on nowadays. We are just working hard and trying to stay focused. My companion loves reminding me how many days left I have. Some times it bothers me but I feel like I have learned a lot of patience with stupidity. I have lived with 12 latino jokesters so I am pretty used to it.
Anyways hope you all have a good week!

Sigamos Adelante,
-Elder Neider

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Turriabla, Cartago, Costa Rica 12.7.15

Dear Family,

Well I got some good news and I got bad news. The Good news is that the couple that was going to be sealed, are still going to be sealed. The bad news is that it will be sometime in January. The husband has been a member all his life. But the branch secretary didnt register that he was ordained an Elder. Therefore they did not meet the qualifications for sealing on Saturday. But all is well. They will be getting sealed sure enough.
Today we had a cool zone activity. We went to an old folks home and cleaned a little. I felt very accomplished because I took time to sit down and get to know some of the residents. Their stories are pretty cool. I think I learned more Costa Rican history today than all of my mission put together haha. At the end of the cleaning, we found a little guitar in the back. One elder fixed it up a little bit. When he was finished, I started strumming what I could and it worked out pretty well. The head of the center heard me playing and singing and decided that it would be cool for us to go sing for the center. So the Zone Leaders said, we need you to play The First Noel, Angels We Have Heard on High, and Silent Night on the guitar. I said ok and I actually was able to play the guitar for a performance for two of the three songs and it gave the zone pitch to sound good. Silent Night was a fiasco haha
But it is going great. We have one baptism planned for the 19th and a lot of activities until the 30th. We are just moving forward. But its coming to a close pretty quick. It's already the 7th! Crazy how quick it goes by.

Sigamos Adelante,

-Elder Neider