Week 72 - Pitbulls and Guns

Hello world! How is everyone doing? 

My week was pretty dang crazy... So here it goes!

So first, we always work in this barrio that's SUPER sketch - but it's cool because I'm pretty much friends with every sketchy person. Well lots of sketchy stuff happened this week. 

In ONE DAY: this crazy boracho (drunk guy) came up and started talking to us - the norm. I usually give him a hard time about his nickname: "Minny" and I always ask him if it's like Mickey Mouse's wife and stuff. This guy is SO SO drunk so he doesn't really know what's going on. Well, he decided to spank me too, like 3 times, and that's what I gave him the "Bro, not cool" talk and he'll remember that. After that, we went to go visit a member who lives down there. Well, we always have to pass by a dog that is chained up - now this dog HATES me, and it's huge. It's crossed between a pitbull and an american stafford so this thing is a small horse. Well, this time it was tied with a tiny chord and I noticed how small and I said something about it to my comp. Well, later, we went to go buy a soda for this member when we had to pass by the dog again. This time, the dog went nuts. And sprinted straight towards me. THE CHORD SNAPPED LIKE FLOSS. So next thing I knew, it smacked into my leg in the thigh SO hard - this thing standing is almost 3/4 of the way to my hips. And I kicked it in the ribs. Well, for some reason, the dog backed away scared and left me alone. I don't know what happened because those dogs kill people and they don't stop until they've torn whatever it is to shreds - mexican drug lords use them. So, I feel really thankful that nothing happened, I know that we as missionaries are protected. If it would've bit me, I'd be home right now so I know that the Lord is looking out for us. 

The Dog - like him but white.  His name is Bruno too...haha ha ha.

Later, some mocoso (booger) came up by us after trying to fight with another guy. He came up to me & asked me if I had a phone like he was going to take it. I looked him straight in the eyes (I had to look down haha) and told him no. He walked away shooting me a sneer and I asked why he pulled that face. He came back and in my face lifted up his shirt to show something that looked like a gun wrapped in a shirt. My comp came over too and what is cool is that we both received an impression from the Spirit that it was only an airsoft gun and nothing would happen. We basically told him that he could be doing better things. He walked away all big and tough and Elder Fuentes and I just laughed to ourselves. We are protected here, and I've never felt in danger (except for the dog - almost had to change my pants haha).

Well, we've had some awesome stuff happen to us this week too. Some guy in the street whistled to us and called us over to talk - we rolled our eyes because we thought it'd be another boracho. Well after talking to him, we found that received the missionaries in the states and wanted to receive us here. He said he wants to show us to his family and read the Book of Mormon and everything. THIS DUDE IS GOLD - my jaw dropped because in almost 17 months of my mission, nothing like this has ever happened. It's really a miracle and we're going to go visit him today. Pretty stoked :)

Shoutout to Jocelyne Morales because she's cool and she speaks Spanish. Haha

Things are good here too. I'm loving it! The food is starting to take a toll on my stomach so I'm taking it really easy with fats and stuff - lots of veggies and fruits and oatmeal and eggs - GOOD STUFF. And, my package came - I'm going to grab it on Wednesday. Thanks MOM you da best :)

Gracias por todo el apoyo de todos ustedes! Les amo! Cuidense mucho! 

Pura Vida y la Iglesia es verdadera!

- Elder Stott 

Special shout out to my littlest sister, SOPHIE - happy birthday tomorrow! I love you so much and am so proud of you! I'm excited to see you when I get home and watch you play volleyball too :) Take care of emmy for me! Happy 10th! LOVE YOU SO MUCH! 

Taking my companero to "Rice and Bean" for his birthday dinner

Gallo Pinto - with coco and chile.  Best thing I've tried here.  It's delicious.

Temple trip with Douglas, a very cool investigator

Elder Amundson - an awesome Elder

Week 71 - Pineapple Trees and Scripture Study

ALRIGHTY! 

Well cool, this week was a good week! It was Semana de Milagros which was pretty sweet. We had the chance to meet a lot of people here in Santo Domingo who are really cool - it's just tricky trying to see if they're interested in us or the gospel...

This week Manuel FINALLY got baptized! It was really the greatest thing ever and I was really excited. It had a pretty good turn-out of people but I was just really really content and happy for him :)  

Also cool picture of the week: A baby pineapple! Fact: they do not grow on trees. They grow from a plant that grows up from the ground. If you plant the green leafy part in dirt, another pineapple will grow - the top is the seed! So for all the people wondering where the seed of pineapple is, it's there, not those little specks inside!

We had a meeting with Elder Alonso - another 70 from the 1st quorum. He is so cool and we learned so much from him. We've had SO many meeting these passed 2 months. But yeah, it was pretty mind-blowing. Cool stuff.

Well, a couple of fun facts about the gospel/church that I've found out or studied in the mission:

A Child's Prayer - the first verse is the child praying and the second is a parent encouraging him/her to pray. Well, originally, the first verse was the child praying and the second verse was Heavenly Father answering: "Pray, I am here. Speak, I am listening". The church didn't want to put words in His mouth so it's understandable that they changed it but wow, when you think of it that way, the song takes on a whole new and sacred meaning. Pretty cool!

1 Nephi 1:1 - the most read and misunderstood scripture in the BofM. Next time you read it, think about the Plan of Salvation and Jesus Christ. Christ was born of goodly parents and instructed as well... As so are we, and are thought and actions are being written in the book of life... COOL STUFF!

Lehi's Journey: a type of the Plan of Salvation. How many kids did Lehi have? If you thought 4, you should repent and read Nephi again haha because it was definitely 6. How many of them stayed loyal to Lehi? 4. How many fell or away or LEFT? 2. 2 out of 6 is 33% or a third. How many left with Satan in the War in Heaven...? Interesting huh? We should really improve how we study the scriptures - there's a lot more there than you think :)

And last, the Parable of the Good Samaritan IS NOT about service or about doing your home/visit teaching. Good try but no, that's completley wrong haha. I'm going to let you guys study it, but I'll give you a hint. Jerusalem is the Presence of God and the person who was robbed is us. I'll leave the rest for you guys :)

Well, thanks for all the love and support! I can feel your prayers all the way over here!

Pura Vida and the Church is true!

- Elder Stott :)

Laundry day - LOTS of white shirts :)

How doing laundry makes me feel

Week 70 - A Wedding and Singing Soprano

Hey guyss!

Well whatsup over there stateside? Lots of heat?? 

Costa Rica has been really messing up my bearings with seasons. Down here, it's technically "winter" where it's a little bit colder and rainier so they call it Winter.. And then I get confused when people send me pictures from the states and it's all summer-y haha until I remember that Costa Rica is kinda weird that way.

Well this week was SICK because we finally got Manuel hitched! It's been more than 3 months working with them and it all came together this Saturday! Funny/Ironic because everyone back home seems to be getting married too... hahaha but yeah, it turned out really good. My musical number went well except that I came singing an OCTAVE higher than I had planned (yup, I was nervous) so I had a cool falsetto version of the hymn. Also, the lawyer who did the wedding was a really really good friend of mine in Alajuelita (my first area) so I was super stoked to get to see him. He's the one with the beard. Good stuff! 

A video of me playing and singing, "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus"

Well, I'm getting skinnier again because my stomach hates me for some reason! Not sure what it is, so I'm sticking with fruits and veggies. More good stuff! haha 

This week coming up is Semana de Milagros (before it was sacrifice - it's still the same thing haha) so we'll see how it goes. Pretty excited for my District - we're gonna kill it.

Special shoutout to my bro Dillbean for graduating from good old Glencoe! Headed to BYU too here soon! Proud of you man! Keep that Stott name clean and tear it up!

Also, today is P-day so that calls for good P-day socks. I Love Stance socks. 

Well, thanks for everything guys! Thank you for the prayers, the love, and everything. 

So, sometimes, here in the mission, you feel like you're not very good, or you're not doing much, or you even begin to doubt why you're out in the first place. Even though those thoughts pass through every missionary's mind (including mine) I just want you to know that I LOVE what I'm doing. I used to feel like I'm missing out on stuff at home. And it is true that I miss everyone, but at the same time, I couldn't be more thankful to be out here. I love my mission, I love Costa Rica and I love my Savior.

Pura vida! The church is true guys!

- Elder Stott 

Cinnamon rolls at Casa de Rodriguez

Week 69 - 16 Months Baby!

HEY GUYS!

What's up? Well, things are great down in here in Costa Rica. Lots of rain still... it's kinda funny because basically, an umbrella basically just helps your head and shoulder gets wet. Everything else gets soaked HA. It's really great!

Well my companion is pretty awesome. His name is Elder Fuentes from DF, Mexico. He has only 6 months here in the mission but he's loving it. It's kinda hard for him to be ready for studies and the schedule but we're working on that little by little! I'm learning to eat even more spicy stuff and I'm loving it - habanero is really good and now jalapeños really aren't that spicy to me haha. It's pretty cool because he's an even bigger gym-rat than I was. So it's fun to workout in the mornings. 

This week we're having a wedding! It's for a couple that the GF is a member and BF is an investigator. We've fought to get them married for SO long (like since the first week I got here in Santo Domingo). And they're finally getting married this Saturday and his baptism is next Saturday. SO FLIPPIN STOKED! Oh, and they asked me to play a musical number too so let's hope that it goes well! haha I'll try to record it. 

Things in Santo Domingo are going great. Really loving it here! Plus I went to Pricemart today and bought sour gummy worms and honey bunches of oats so, I'm REALLY loving it here haha! Nah, but it's really good. Today we've planned to find a ton of people that really want to progress because we've had to leave some people - which always makes me kinda sad... :( but the Lord has a plan for everyone and sometimes all we can do is invite. 

Nothing much else to report this week! Loving the mission so far! These passed 16 months have been the longest/hardest/best/and worth-while time of my life. I absolutely love this Gospel and know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. And I'm here to share the blessings that I have with other people here in Costa Rica! I love the Ticos! and I love my mission! 

Thank you for all the support that I've had from all of you! Keep those prayers coming - they're needed! 

Love all you guys! The church is true!

Pura Vida,

Elder Stott!