The
title this week does not refer to me this week, It has to do with the
fact that I got soaked to the bone in San Josè last monday after emails
(rainy season starts early there) and we had a Tremble (an after quake)
here in Nicoya after the 6.6 in Nicaragua. I don`t know what happened
there but I hope everyone is all right.
I guess it has a
bit to do with my companion too. His ¨Natural Disaster¨ is the fact that
he has had so many beans that they make him sick, quite literally
unfortunately. I don`t know what we`re going to do about it because our
cook has a bunch of beans with every meal and he doesn`t want to be
rude.
Other
things this week include getting a person ready for baptism (MY FIRST)
and I learned of the power of forgiveness (and sleep). The first is a
20 year old who will hopefully be getting baptized this week. She was
someone we met early on but she has a difficult schedule and not all of
our appointments could be fulfilled, however she`s been progressing and
will hopefully be prepared for this Saturday.
The power of
Forgiveness thing is the fact that I was really mad at my companion
earlier this week but I decided to forgive him for whatever he did and
the next day we weren`t fighting. I also was running off of 4 hours of
sleep two nights in a row, but it was the forgivenees part that made the
difference, not the full nights sleep. It couldn`t have been the lack of
sleep that was making me unreasonable and not willing to change. But
now I can`t even remember the problem so we`re super awesome and are
bringing in the spirit to the work. I can`t wait for this week
Hey I just though
I`d share this email with everyone. It`s to someone who has there call
to Costa Rica, reporting May 28. It shares a bit of the taste that I
have of this ¨Large Country.¨
¨Hey, This is Elder VanderMeyden!
¨Sorry
it took so long to get back to you, I`ve been rushed for email time a
bit recently. Right now I`m in a town called Nicoya, which is just
barely in the northern peninsula of the country. It has a bunch of
people and almost everyone has a dog (they have quite a few stray dogs
too, and stray chicken). It`s not the cleanest of places and you will
definitely want to bring soap. They have trash in all the gutters and
some of them stink. There are many mosquitos but they don´t bother the
Gringos or Ticos (that`s slang for Costa Ricans, but I bet you already
knew that) much, just the Columbians (speciffically, my compañero). The
heat is really bad, but you`ll be coming in the rainy season. Bring
extra socks and shoes that can get wet, I had my first storm in San Josè
and it was heavy. Also, if you can, bring a waterproof bag and a good
strong umbrella (for both the sun and the rain) that can withstand the
wind, They have them here if you`re willing to wait through one day of
rain before you buy one.
¨Here`s the great part though, THE
PEOPLE: I really love them and almost everyone will let you into the
house the first time. They love hearing messages about Christ, even if
they won`t change. The only complaint I have is that they`re a bit lax
about things and don`t want to follow through on commitments. I don`t
think they`ll be to bad though.
¨I wish I could just show
you the entire place through the computer but I can only give a snapshot
of my small-ish town. The breeze smells of bananas, there are fruit
that you can freely pick from trees, the spanish is a bit hard, but they
will always wait for the Gringos because they know that they are
trying. Don`t ever be afraid to ask what something means, they love to
help too.
¨Sorry, I don`t have much time on the computer. Good luck and I`ll see you at a missionary conference or something.
¨Elder VanderMeyden¨
That`s all for this week.
Love y`all,
Elder VanderMeyden :)