¡Pura Vida!: El Templo

This week was incredible. So much to talk about but so little time. I'll try to fit in as much as I can and make it as short and non-boring as possible.

So week we had a pretty nice surprise. Saturday afternoon we got a call from President Wilkinson, the Mission President here in Costa Rica. Freaked out and thinking that we were gonna get our heads chopped about something, we answered the phone. He didn't chop our heads but he did tell us that he was on his way with his family to our area here in Pueblo Nuevo, Limon, which is about 3-4 hours away from his house in San Jose. He told us that he and his family were gonna attend Church with us and our tiny little branch the next morning. Huge honor to have the Mission President in our tiny little church meeting. It was also reeeaaalllly weird to see a white family in church, haven't seen anything like that in a while. He didn't make any announcements our anything, just a nice little visit to Limon.

So remember when I told ya'll about that family that we tracted into the other week, the mom and all her kids? Well her name is Yahira, and she's got two other kids that we've been teaching, Nataniel and Nicole. They're all progressing REALLY well and are super interested in the gospel. And get this, they've got dates to be baptized on the 25th of this month!! Please keep your fingers crossed and your prayers loud for this family. We've also got this other investigator named Freddy. He's an awesome guy, about 50-55 years old mas o menos, and he really is one of our best friends out here. He's a shoe-repairman and he also makes bunch of coconut souvenirs. He also sells pipa fria from his house, suuuper delicious. Anyway he's such a cool guy and he's so smart when it comes to Bible discussions and ideas. Teaching him has really been an adventure. He has a desire to change his life (which has really been a wild one) and be baptized, he just doesn't know when. Please keep Freddy in your prayers as well.

So today we're actually in San Jose. Why? We got to go to the Temple today! Such a great opportunity and one that I really needed. I've honestly been kinda struggling these past few days just with a lot of stress and stuff like that, so this temple trip was timed so perfectly. The Temple is such a great source of stress-relief and rejuvenation, the perfect place to go when you need a little pick-me-up. The Costa Rica Temple is gorgeous and a super cool experience because of course, everything was in Spanish. But my Spanish is good enough now to where I actually understood everything that was being said.

The mission is so great and it's exactly where I need to be. I love you all and I hope and pray every day that my example is effecting some of you in one way or another. Christ lives, he is our King, he is our Savior, and he is our Brother.

Keep On Keepin' On...

- Elder Willis