Chapter 6: Natural Disasters

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 :)