Week 30 - Sleeping on the floor

Hey everyone!  7 months complete!!

Hope everyone is enjoying their last few weeks of summer! Everyday feels like summer here because its almost always hot haha. 

So this week, I dont have a ton to write about haha but we'll see.

So like I said last week, our area is huge. I get lost all of the time haha but my companion said that it's super organized here compared to Honduras so he knows his way around. I sure don't haha.

We finally got a house here in Hatillo! Its a brand new apartment and its super duper nice compared to all of my other houses! But the mission didn't have enough supplies for us so, we're sleeping with our mattresses on the floor because we dont have the equipment for our bed frames. I had to go buy garbage cans, mops, brooms, shower curtains, and other stuff with my personal money ugh :( 

My companion bought pizza for our first night in the new house.  It was so good! Had to get a picture of that!  I'm still getting used to the training part of things. My comp still asks a TON of questions but I'm teaching him to answer his own questions or to think things out a little more. He really has a love for the work which is great - that's one thing that I love about him. We're working on listening to the Spirit this week so that should really help him out.

The area is going good. We seriously need more missionaries here because its so huge but I'm getting used to it. We're going to have a Baptism this week! I'm super stoked because it's the girl who's 10 years old who is part of a part-member family. She was prepared already and just needed to be invited to be baptized! So we're going to have her baptism on Wednesday! 

Speaking of Wednesday, we get to go to the Temple in the morning! I'm super stoked because I always love the strong Spirit that's there in the House of the Lord. I can always use a godd spiritual recharge hahaha :) I'll send photos of that next week!

Well, let's hope something crazy will happen this week so I have a good story to write!

Thank you for all the letters, prayers, and support from back home. Love you guys!

Take care!

Pura Vida,

- Elder Stott

Week 29 - Back in Black!

Hey everyone! Hope everyone had a great week last week!

First of all, sorry if I have weird grammar in this email - this keyboard doesn't have a Spanish option but oh well.

So this week was LONG! Longest week of my mission but here we are in another week! I survived! 

It really has been an adventure opening up our new area, Hatillo, and training a newbie haha. So first, I'll talk a little about my greenie. His name is Elder Carrion and he's from Honduras. He's VERY confident in himself and his personal abilities to teach. Sounds like someone we know??  He served a mini mission over in Honduras for 3 months so he thinks he knows a lot haha. He reminds me a lot of MYSELF when I was just starting haha. But like me, he'll find that the mission corrects pride very quickly and even a little harshly sometimes. He likes to talk right in my face when he talks with me and it's a little hard for me to understand him because he slurs his Spanish. He also reminds me a lot of my second companion because he asks SO MANY FLIPPIN questions! Each question is to ask another question. haha And a lot of the time I have to answer his questions with something like "Who knows" or "No idea".  haha  He asks odd questions that I know nothing about. How much money does a Chiropractor make in Costa Rica?  "No idea!"  I'm a little lost on how I can help him. I hope the Lord can help me with that part! I know I will grow to love him - it's just something that I have to keep trying. I'm keeping my head up high, but not too high haha  I'm praying for extra patience.

Now, our new area! IT'S HUGE. Its like the 2nd biggest area in all of Costa Rica. So this area has had missionaries before in the Ward, but they were taken out because the members offered little support to the missionaries. They have been begging mission presidents to send missionaries for about 2-3 years now and finally we're Back in Black! haha 😎 It's going to be great!!  I honestly feel like a celebrity in the ward because they all knew our names before we came... a little strange huh. AND they all feed us, so Elder Stott is happy! I've gotten so lost, so many times because the area is a lot like Portland but with smaller buildings. There's 10 or 11 districts in this city so we have a lot of work to do. I'm pretty dang stressed because President, the Zone Leaders, and my District leaders are putting the pressure on. I have to train my companion and open an area - so LOTS of pressure. I'm loving the challenge, but let me just say, there's a lot on my plate right now.  Prayers appreciated.

Nothing much else happened this week. We had a big conference in San Jose and a couple of good friends came to visit - Elder Dunyon and Navas. We were all in Alejuelita together!

Hope everyone has a great week. Enjoy those last 2 weeks of Summer!

Take care y Pura Vida!

- Elder Stott

Week 28 - Ch ch ch ch ch ch CHANGES!!

Hey everybody! 

Hope all is well over there in the EEUU (United States of America in Spanish)

Well a lot has changed for me here in the mission but more about that later!

So this week we came by to Tatiana's house to talk to her about her baptism and everything and how she felt and feels. After she told us about how awesome it was, we asked Elieth if she wanted to get baptized this passed Saturday. She said yes, and that's a HUGE miracle because a while ago, she really had no interest in talking with us at all. We had a couple of lessons with her but she didn't really seem to care enough. So we were super stoked to hear that she wanted to be baptized. We came back the next day (Friday) to interview her and she passed. BUT, she said that she wanted to wait at least a month to prepare more (even though she was more than prepared). Needless to say, we were really, really bummed... :( We had another lesson on Saturday, and although it was a super spiritual lesson, she still wanted to wait. The rest of that day was really hard for me and my companion.  It was tough and confusing because we knew that this was a miracle from Heavenly Father but we were confused because it was getting put off. Here's where it REALLY was a miracle. Sunday morning we were getting ready for Sacrament Meeting and I was playing the prelude music. My comp came up to me and told me that Elieth wanted to be baptized that day. I didn't believe him and told him to stop joking around haha... But he was telling the truth! So I got to be a part of this miracle-baptism that day and because of it, I was able to be a part of a baptism every week while I was in Cañas! :)

The other big thing that happened was today! So we got a call last night that I was having changes. I was getting transferred! I'm going back to my old Zone in La Sabana again! I was so flipping stoked! Then they told me that I'd be training a new missionary, I didn't believe them. AND, I really didn't believe them when they told me after that, that I was going to open a new area at the same time. All I thought in my mind was "oh crap" haha. I've heard that opening an area is REALLY difficult and that one of the most important "positions" in the mission field is training. So we'll see how all this goes. I'm stoked and nervous at the same time. Well, I'm here in San Jose with the Assistants to the Mission President.  We are waiting for him to interview all the new missionaries and assign them trainers on Wednesday night. So, I'll let everyone know who my new greenie companion is next Monday. Please pray for me haha :)

Other than those two things there's not much to write about haha

Thank you for all the support and prayers - keep it coming! :)

Pura Vida!

- Elder Josh Stott :)

Me and my Papa (trainer), Elder Mejia before he heads home

Me at the Arenal Volcano

 

Racing with my companion.  Afterwards, I found out that he played on the National Soccer team for El Salvador.  He is wicked, wicked fast.  haha

Week 27 - Elder Hulk and the Volcano

Hey everyone!

So this week was another week that really flew by. There were a couple of really long & difficult days but hey, I made it!

Tatiana's baptism - she is so tiny!

So first off, we had a baptism yesterday! It was rock solid because we have been working with this girl since my first week here! She's this little tiny girl named Tatiana and she's 11 years old. She's super duper (I mean really really) shy to talk to us and to anyone but she has a solid testimony of the gospel. Five weeks straight baptizing baby ;)

This week we had a mulit-zone conference over in Liberia which was cool. First, President called and asked me a bunch of question (it was a really scary test). He asked me to cite D&C 4:3 (we have that whole section of the scriptures memorized) the commandments, Book of Mormon Prophets, Latter Day Prophets and an Article of Faith. Man, good thing I passed! He told me that he was proud of the hard-work I'm doing here in Cañas. I have a ton of respect for that man! Also, the Assistants (who I didn't know) know me and my comp and say that we're killing it in Cañas! I guess we're famous or something ;)

Today, we went to Tilaran to go see the Arenal Volcano which was sick! I saw a ton of Blue Morpho butterflys and a bunch of cool flowers. The Volcano is huge and green and gorgeous! I was bummed that you can't climb it - it's VERY active so it's illegal and apparently dangerous but, you can get really close to it! I finally saw a pretty part of Costa Rica! Haha it was cool driving through because it's literally the jungle over there. There was all these weird sounds of bugs and birds and I was in the middle of all of it! I got a couple of cool pictures taken with some of my buds here in Cañas! 

I'm finally able to understand the language here in CR. I can almost always say exactly what I want to say and I can understand about 90 percent of what people say to me!

There's changes this week so I'll probably (I'm hoping), have a new companion here in Cañas! I've learned some good things from my companion here but let's just say I'm REALLY ready for a new one haha. I feel like he thinks he's training me or something. I'll just keep him happy by letting him think that haha ;)

Thank you everyone for all of the emails, love, and support! It really recharges my battery for another week of hard work! 

Pura Vida y siga adelante! (keep going) :)

- Elder Stott! 

Lake Arenal

At the Arenal Volcano with my district

Me and my crewwwww!

Week 26 - SIX MONTHS!! Yeeaaah Baby!!

Howdy y'all!

How's everyone doing out there in Gringolandia?! 

So this week went by really really fast! Not a whole lot happened but hey "ya vamos" or basically "we're still going!" So I don't have a ton to write about this week :(

The one thing that was really killer is that we had the baptism of William! He's this super tall and super chill dude who doesn't really talk all that much but he's got a giant heart and has a love for the gospel. It's super cool because a long time ago, he was super bitter and grumpy and served in the military in Nicaraugua - pretty sure he's killed multiple people haha.... But he's changed SO much and now we're just hoping that he can go to the temple to be sealed with his family in a year! The Gospel of Jesus Christ really changes people's lives - that's for sure! :) So crazy - it looks like we're set to looking really really good to havebaptize every week for about 2 more months here. I'm trying to beat a record here in the mission - 19 weeks in a row. Records are to be broken and I'm here to break 'em :) haha

It's still super hot and dusty in Canas - it honestly feels like I'm in a small town in Texas or something. I keep losing weight and that always stinks. I'm about 185ish pounds now, getting skinny and losing muscle. DUMB. hahaha Fasting is always super hard here because normally when I fast, I'm just hungry. Here, I practically die of thirst but hey, all the more blessings right?

Fast Sunday tie pic - I cleaned the mirror afterwards

Something funny this week - so I was walking down-town with my comp and this guy stopped us. He wanted me to be a men's model for his store which is like a Men's Warehouse or something like that. Haha he said that he liked the way I had my hair and how I dressed. Missionary style!  He was pretty bummed to hear that I couldn't help him out, but we gave him a pass-along card so he got to hear a little about the gospel!

Hope all is going well there in the Estados Unidos! Keep praying for me! Remember that a smile is always the best things you can give to others!

Pura Vida! 

- Elder Stott :)

What's for dinner?  Garrobo Iguana - I LOVE THEM - These taste like beef!