Week 35 - 8 month missionary!

Hey everyone! 

Hope everyone had a great week this passed week and a FANTASTIC conference weekend like mine!

So first of all, we had another baptism! We baptized this girl named Nitzy who is 16 and is actually the sister of Jeimy - the girl who we baptized a few weeks ago. Nitzy has a super strong testimony and she has a heart-felt desire to follow Christ. She is going to be such a strong member as long as she sticks to it with tons of faith!

So General Conference was SUPER SICK! I was so stoked to see 3 new apostles called to the the Quorum of the 12. I felt the Spirit super strong as they took their seats and I knew from that moment that they were called by the Lord. My favorite talks were by Elder Holland, Larry R. Lawrence, and Russel M. Nelson. Elder Holland and Nelson both talked about the power of the women of the church and their importance. I want to add my testimony to theirs...the power that a woman has to influence the lives of others, as well as lead in the church is amazing. I loved how beautiful Elder Holland's talk was about mothers and how nothing comes closer to the Christ's pure love than the love of a mother for a child. THAT IS SO TRUE! And although it made me miss my mom a lot, I realized how true that simple truth is in my personal life and I'm so very thankful to have the pure love of a mother in my life. I love you Momma Stott :) The Prophet's talk was powerful and simple! He has lived his life testifying of Jesus Christ and he is doing an amazing job. He's looking pretty old and frail but I know that he's got a job to finish before he ends his ministry!

This week I had a really cool experience with some alcoholics. These guys live in the sketchy-est part of our sketchy-est area. This guys live in a old abondended school gym or something like that. We'll we've been working with them so fix their alchohol problem that got them living in the streets. They have families and lives but alcoholism took that away from them and I'm sure that they never imagined they'd be where they are today - no wonder the Lord needed to reveal the Word of Wisdom to us! I found that I really love this guys and have found that I see them as our Heavenly Father sees them, not as the world sees them. I see them in who they can become: their potential. So I was going to leave some Books of Mormon with them to read but they had been drinking just a tiny bit - even though they promised not to. So I was thinking to myself if we should leave the BofM's with them or not - when a thought came to mind, "Give them a blessing." I thought it was kinda weird but I followed this prompting and we went inside this dark and damp building to give them all a priesthood blessing (they're 3 guys in their 40's) As I put my hands on the head of one of them, I felt the Spirit the strongest I have in my whole life. I started tearing up as I blessed this man and for a moment, my eyes were opened and I could feel the love that our Heavenly Father had for him. It was so sacred and the Spirit was so strong. I'll never ever look at someone who lives on the streets or is "rough around the edges" the same. They are children of God too with a divine potential just like every one of us. Heavenly Father loves and knows them and I know that to be true!

This last week was long and tiring and this coming week is probably going to be even longer haha - we have sacrifice week this week. We're going to wake up at 5:30 every day and leave at 9 to work until 9 at night with only a 1 hour lunch break. That's 3 extra hours of working but I'm excited to see the blessings that will come through our work as we are diligent and faithful!

I got a package from my family.  It was AWESOME!  I loved it.  I laughed so hard for so long about those fox socks.  Pretty sure my President won't let me wear them.  They'll be P-day socks.  haha

I'm so thankful for this opportunity I have to be serving in Costa Rica! It is for sure the hardest thing I have ever done and it can be really tough at times, but I have loved it along the way!

Remember that we are all trying to get to the same place! Let's help one another get back home! 

Until next week: PURA VIDA!

- Elder Stott