I am serving in a Zone called Limon and an Area called Pueblo Nuevo, with my trainer companion, Elder Vellver. He´s Mexican and doesn´t speak a lick of English. We´re helping each other out and both learning more in Spanish and English. This place is super close to the Atlantic and is actually only about 15 minutes from the beach... SUPER humid. Lots of green jungle and natural beauty. Our appartment is actually in the nicer part of Limon, but some of the places that we go to proselyteare unbelievable. All of the "houses" are basically shacks with plywood walls and tin roofs. Two or three of our investigators actually have cardboard for some of their walls, no joke. The people here are angels. They have nothing for themselves, but give to us missionaries amply and willingly. We have HUGE meals no matter who we are with. Its so humbling.
Speaking of food, the cuisine here to die for. Nothing but rice and beans and fruit fruit fruit. Yes, I´ve had diarreaha for about 3 days now. Esta bien, I´ll get used to it eventually. Most of the Elders´appartments here have little Costa Rican ladies that they hire to come and cook lunch for them everyday. Elder Vellver and I don´t have one so I am becoming quite the skilled chef (and by that I mean I´m getting really good at cooking rice and beans and making guacamole).
The people of Costa Rica are called Ticos. I´m learning a lot of new Tico phrases here like Tuanes (cool), Estan mi amorche (I´m excited), and my personal favorite: ¡Pura Vida! They use pura vida for evrything. It basically means life´s good, no worries, etc. In Limon there are actually a lot of black people who speak a language called Patua (its a form of Spanish with a little bit of English thrown in) and its impossible to understand haha.
We´ve got about 3 baptismal dates (fechas) so far and I´m super excited. My comp says that some day, we might be able to baptise on the beach!!! That´ll be super tuanes. ¡Estan mi amorche!
I am absolutely loving this experience. Its probably the hardest thing I´ve ever done, with the culture shock, the language barrier, and the lack of friends and family. There are some days when it just seems impossible. But I know that the Lord is with me every step of the way and helping me through this. I´m doing his work. The church is the same no matter where you are in the World. I love being a servant of the Lord and a representative of Jesus Christ. He is my savior and my brother, and I get to share that with the People of Costa Rica. ¡Les amo y Pura Vida!
Keep on Keepin´ on...
-Elder Willis
Found the Costa Rica Flag in the Goergia Airport. Pretty cool cause it was close to the Texas flag as well
We got to San Jose at night and for some reason they didn´t have the lights on for the temple. But here it is anyway...
My first breakfast in Costa Rica... cereal
Me and Elder Vellver at Pres. Wilkinson´s house when we were first assigned our area & trainer
Our apartment
Lunch! & our cocina
In one of our investigator´s house. Super funny cause these kids have never seen a camera and didn´t know how to use it. (hence the reason it's so blurry)
One of our proselyting walks during the day
The view from outside our apartment
Me in Costa Rica ¡Pura Vida!
Elder Vellver y yo a la playa
Im glad your having fun!! Trust me you will get used to the food, try tostones(fried plantain) its amazing!! Keep being yourself and have fun in costa rica!
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