Week 16 - I'm on fire...literally.

Hey everyone! Hope everyones week is going well!

Warning... Theres going to be grammatical errors because this keyboard is a Spanish one and I cant change the language haha so sorry. 

At the super mercado

So this week went really well! We have a lot of new investigators and I had a couple funny things happen to me this week, more about that later haha.

So I´m not sure if rainy season has really started because today is freakin hot. Its in the high 90s and Im roasting in my dark pants and dress shirt, but oh well, thats the name of the game baby! haha

We got a brand spankin new stove this week! Its a little slow but its shiny AND I can cook my oatmeal now so todo bien :) I really missed hot food because avena and milk is good but I´d rather have it hot.. haha

So, I´ve decided that all our appliances are all out to try to kill me. First started with our stove bomb thing and now, our shower haha. So I was showering one morning (and although I'm super thankful to have a shower, its kind of a piece of junk haha), when suddenly I could smell burning plastic. The next thing I know, the shower exlpoded in flames haha and I may have squeeled a little bit. There was smoke and everything and turns out, my hair caught on fire too and my companion thought that was a little funny HAHA. I put out the fire and everything.. there was no damage which was lucky. So now, I have the pleasure of showering in the Artict Ocean again! SWEEEEET. Its super cold so to get myself to shower, I heat up water to douse myself in after I´m done using the shower haha

We set two FIRM baptism dates this week! One was with a girl that we have been teaching who is living with members. She is amazing and has, and is progressing so fast! She really likes the Book of Mormon and prayer. It helps that her boyfriend is a missionary who just left for his mission too. Haha I´m sure he's almost excited as we are :) Haha and the family she lives with is pretty loaded with money so when we teach her, they almost always order pizza, so we get pizza 3 times a week! The other is a young man that we have been teaching for almost 3 months. He has progressed slow but now he finally feels ready and feels that he has a testimony as well which is great :) Theyre going to be my first baptisms!!!!  

So there are these stupid junebug things here. They fly everywhere and I think they trip when they walk because they are almost always on their backs... and then the ants like to eat them haha. Anyways, one day, I was waiting for a bus, and one of these big dudes flew and smacked me in the lip. It hurt and scared the crud out of me haha. People around me were dying at the scared gringo. I smashed it so I actually got the last laugh hahaha

Not a whole let else exciting happened this week. I did high five the scary dude with a bunch of teardrop tattoo (each one symbolizes a person he's killed) so that was pretty sick haha. I'm getting skinnier which is sad and my shirts feel like theyre way to big for me hahaha. I'm already planning my workouts for when I get back haha!

So I hope all is well! Things are good here in good ole Alejuelita! Doing the Lord's work one day at a time! Remember your blessings.. theyre are people here who can only dream of the things that we often take for granted.

Pura Vida!

Elder JoshtheStott :)

Week 15 - Here Comes the Rain

Hey everybody! Hope things are all good in the States!

So this week (just like every week) was a REALLY good week.

It started off with me buying a ukelele! It's an Ibanez, which is a really nice brand that makes guitars and ukeleles. I bought it for 35 Mil or 70 dollars. The awesome thing is that I came to find out that its worth about 250 dollars in the States and it's in perfect condition. Her name is Kalani :) obviously because the ukelele is Hawaiin haha. I've played songs for little kids in the streets and they love it! They always say that my guitar is so cute hahaha

Just messing around with Elder Mejia

This week also, we had divisions. That's where I switch companions for a day and a half and we just preach the gospel and switch apartments and do everything together just like my companion and I normally do. I was with Elder Navas, a Tico from Costa Rica. He is really great but he talks ALL the time. When he's eating, showering, etc. You name it, he's talking. Haha but I did learn how to better utilize the Spirit when I'm teaching. I was definitely glad to have my regular companion back, but it was a good experience!

Helping paint a house - in suit pants.  It's washable!

I had interviews with President Wilkinson this week. He is such an inspired man and I have a ton of respect for him. He's done great things for this Mission and I'm going to be sad to see him go. One thing he has taught me is that we can teach with power and authority while still being humble. There is no way that Satan can stop me in doing the Lord's work when I can fully learn how to teach with power, authority and humility.

The rainy season has started and man, THIS is real rain. Oregon rain is nothing compared to Costa Rica rain. It's like a constant monsoon and even though you have an umbrella, you're still going to get soaked haha. BUT, contacting people is a ton easier now because you're more likely to get in to a home to teach a lesson. We found two great families this past week through contacting and I'm super stoked to share the blessing of this Gospel with them. I KNOW that it blesses families and blesses the life of each of our Heavenly Father's children.

We had a lesson with this super old man named Mendez. In his house (I'm laughing while I'm typing this haha) there were no joke, two big piles of dead flies on his carpet square by his chair. There were flies everywhere and he was swatting them left and right. I took the swatter and probably killed 30 or more flies during the lesson, and because I'm super polite and gracious, I politely added them to his piles, contributing to his great work hahaha. It was also funny because my comp. HATES flies so he was kinda freaking out the whole time. 

Interesting things that happened this week: 

I found goat milk candy in a store and I plan on trying it haha.

Me and Cookie

I found a cat under my bed when I was getting ready to go to bed - I think it snuck in our apartment in the morning or something. Who knows hahaha but it was somebody else's cat.

I took a picture with pretty much the cutest dog ever. His name is cookie :)

Well, that was about all that happened that's worth writing about this week. Sorry it's not a ton - I plan my next letter out during this week! Hang in there and eat real food for me! (haha)

Pure Life ;)

Elder Josh the Stott

Week 14 - Happy Mother's Day and no oatmeal :(

Elder Stott was able to Skype with us for 45 minutes on Mother's Day.  It was great!!  He looks healthy and HAPPY!!  So a few random things from our conversation: He feels like he's back to 100%, but is sad that he looks skinny :)  He says his mission is the toughest thing he's ever done but he's having fun.  He says the worst thing is waking up so early every day.  He related a very funny story from when he was sick - about his interaction with the hospital nurse who was giving him a shot, and his confusion over the location of the injection :)  So, so funny...he described it as a 'peanut butter' shot, and said he couldn't walk upright for several days after.  He's lost the love for beans and rice, and says the food there is pretty much flavorless - and he's begging for hot sauce.  He's also gotten used to drinking milk from an unrefrigerated BOX.  So strange!  Another strange Costa Rica thing is that they don't flush their used toilet paper.  They fold it up into little packets and put it in the trash.  He says it's pretty foul. He really likes his companion, Elder Mejia (who we were able to meet - he seems like a character).  He talked about how he plays the piano for church every week, and how nobody actually knows how to sing.  They don't even sing the most common hymns correctly...they just make it up.  He says it's very comical to try to play along with them.  He said that the Ticos like to use English slang with him.  He told us about a sweet little abuelita (tiny grandma) who feeds them every week - It just cracks him up because during dinner, if he slips and talks in English, this cute old lady will point her finger at him and say "hey, shut up".  It's the only English she knows.  So funny!  

This Thursday marks his 100th day!  We miss him so much.  It was SO good to see and hear him - he's changed but yet still the same. He ended our Skype visit by sharing his testimony with us in Espanol - which was powerful.  It was a great Mother's day gift!!  Hoping this video clip works.  Here's his email from Monday...

Hope all is well in the good ole US of A! I'm proud to be an American :)

Had an awesome Skype visit with my family for Mother's Day yesterday!!  

                                                                                                                           

So this week was great. A lot of great things are happening for us and the missionary work! 

So to start off, this week was really REALLY super hot. It was in the high 90's and I was not looking forward to wearing my suit on Sunday haha -jeez was I sweating (that could be where I'm losing all my weight haha. So it's really hot because apparently the rainy season is about to start. It's rained a few times and it's nothing like I've ever seen in Oregon. I'm going to need to buy a new BIG umbrella or I'm going to spend my days soaked haha. 

So everyone here likes to call me names, speak English (including bad words), and my companions and the youth love the fact that I wear Nike. Here they say it like N-"eye"-K... if that makes sense. Apparently it's pretty expensive here. My companions say that everything I wear is Nike and that anything less, isn't high enough quality for me hahaha

So this week too, our flippin stove broke. Remember that our cocinera got me peanut butter and Quaker oatmeal??  So now I have 50 packets of oatmeal just begging to be eaten in our kitchen but I can't :( It was kinda funny when it happened. I was cooking with the little stove and it started to smell like burning plastic. And then all of the sudden, the stove started to shoot out a load of sparks and they hit me too. They were pretty cool because they were blue BUT they stung hahaha. So that was just GREAT and I hate to see my full box of oatmeal now - it makes me sad haha.

This week, I've heard a bunch of songs that I liked (and still like) before my mission. Everyone here loves ACDC and Gun's and Roses. I heard "Paradise City" and I took a little minute break to rock out to it. I also heard a particular song by Sir-Mix-a-Lot on the bus and that was pretty funny because my companion and I looked at each other when the song started and we each had a huge grin on our faces haha. That was a fun bus ride :)

So this week, one of our investigators bought a new house. He literally has everything in this life that he needs now. He has a HUGE house, a car, and an amazing family. The only thing left is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One day we were out on the street looking for people to teach and he drove by asking if we could help him with his new home. We painted it and cleaned it as well - it was a great opportunity to talk about blessings in our lives. He told us after that he had realized that he started getting all these blessings after we had begun to teach him and he said that he wants to get baptized for sure now. The miracle here is that he was super stubborn and a tiny bit prideful but all these blessings seem to have humbled him and now he has a desire to be baptized :) Such a miracle!

Hopefully everyone is doing well at home! Remember to be thankful for the blessings that you have in your life - there are people here with so little. They live very humbly and I am being humbled for sure!

Until next week,

Elder Brad Pitt, John Cena and Stott :)

Pura Vida! 

Week 13 - A Baptism and a Bimbo Jersey

Thanks for tuning in to Elder Stott's Weekly Report!

Feliz Cumpleanos to an Awesome Tico!  4/22

This week was great! haha

First off, I still don't like papaya and I don't think I ever will haha

Second, I'm getting peanut butter and quaker oatmeal packets this week! HECK YEAH! Haha they're both super expensive but my cocinera has a membership to PriceMart (pretty much Costco) that has American stuff for cheaper and bigger, so I'm super stoked for that!

Me, my companion Elder Mejia and Elder Navas  4/27

My investigators are all doing pretty good. They all have troubles with following up with their commitments.. So we're working on that. This week, we found a guy who lives in the poor part of my area. We told him that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that we felt that we needed to share the Gospel with him. He said that we didn't feel that but that God commanded that we visit him :) It was pretty sick. 

Tres Baptismos!

I baptized someone this week. She was an investigator of the other Elders but for some reason she wanted me to baptize her - we still haven't figured out why.. haha but the baptism went great and she and her 2 older sisters were baptized too.

So something funny here in Costa Rica is that everyone likes to give me nicknames. And they all are famous characters or actors that are: 1. Blonde, 2. Muscular, and 3. Good Looking or a mix of any of the three ;) haha I've been called: Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Johnny Bravo, Clark Kent, Super Man, Bane, Captain Kirk and John Cena hahaha. Well thank you everyone hahaha - it's pretty funny

So I have a confession to make. My mom told me before my mission, that we should buy a jersey of one of the 13 soccer teams from Costa Rica that says "Bimbo" on the front (a bread company) and I was like "NO WAY" and now...... I'm going to buy one soon.  They're super popular here haha!

 

So I found a scripture that I really like this week: 1st Nephi 18:2 And it talks about when Nephi was building a boat. And he says in it that because he built the boat in the manner that the Lord commanded, the boat was not built in the manner of men, but of the Lord. I'd like to think that the boat symbolizes our lives. If we construct our lives and live them not in the manner of men, but of the Lord, we will be blessed as well :) I know that this is true.

 

Hope everyone's week goes well!

Pura Vida!

- Elder Stott :)

Week 12 - A huge relievement :)

Hey family and friends!

So, first of all, I'm not sick anymore! Por fin! (Finally!) So thank you to everyone's prayers and wishes. Looks like they worked :) 

So this week was great! I went to the doctor on Wednesday and he said more or less "Welcome to Costa Rica - you're all the way better" which was a huge relievement. They're still no 100% sure what it was because the test I had has a 50% chance of coming back as a false negative (haha that really isn't a great test at all huh?) but the antibiotics I had worked and they were for a really bad infection that you get through animal contact. It was probably something I ate or something... I don't really want to think about it hahaha

This week we had a lot of great lessons! The gangster that we have been teaching wants to be baptized and so does a family that we have been teaching for a long time. So this week we set a baptismal date with 5 people. For a long time we have been looking for new people to teach and finally we received some references. I know that the Lord blesses us after the trial of our faith.

Haha in church yesterday, I tried to play a hymn for sacrament meeting. But the thing was that it was a hymn that we don't have in English. So I played the introduction and I thought it sounded great but turns out, when the congregation started singing, I was completely SLAUGHTERING the song haha so the chorister (the person who leads the music) stopped me in the middle of the song and we changed the hymn to "Come Follow Me" - the easiest song in the whole flippin book haha. I thought it was really funny and so did the ward..

Elders Mejia, Stott, Dunyon and Navas  4-9-15

So my Spanish is coming along really well. I'm finally starting to understand what people are actually saying and I can communicate (more or less) what I want to say. The thing is though, and it's kinda funny to me, is that people here say that they speak perfect Spanish. HA - not even close. People here slur their words, they whistle at the end and almost everyone cuts-off the end of almost everything they say. So, I'm still getting used to that.

Haha. This week, I heard "Love on Top" by Beyonce (yes, I'll admit, I really really like that song) in the street. And I started to dance and sing but my companion stopped me because people were stopping 
in the street to watch the crazy gringo haha.

So it seems like everyone is telling me I'm skinny now. I hate it haha.  BUT, they also say I'm more handsome now haha

Well, this week wasn't very interesting but I'm finally feeling better which is great! And I can finally eat the rice and beans again (yayyyyyy).

So I hope everyone has a great week and I will update you guys again next week!

Cuidese! (Take care) and Pura Vida!

- Elder Stott :)

Week 11, 12 or 13??

It's hard to tell if all of the "haha's" in this email are from delirium or a twisted sense of humor.  Or perhaps, it's just Elder Stott trying to make all of us, who are concerned, feel like he's starting to feel better.  Whatever the case, there are a LOT of them - fair warning!

Sister Wilkinson, the Mission Mama, has been keeping us updated this last week.  He has an unidentified bacterial infection.  No appetite, raging headaches, body-aches and very high fevers since April 9th.  He's been resting and sleeping a lot.  In addition to the Costa Rican Dr's he's been seeing, there is a mission nurse and a retired Dr, who is a Senior Missionary in Guatemala, who are checking on him regularly.  

Just today, Josh went to the Mission Home in San Jose.  Sister Wilkinson let him send me a quick message.  He said, "...I'm doing a lot better, the fever is super low now, like 101.  I'm feeling a lot better.  I'm just taking a lot of antibiotics and Advil for the headaches.  Apparently I look really skinny hahaha!  (insert grumpy face)  So I know it's like the mother's instinct, but you don't need to worry, I'm getting better!"    

....and now it's the mom's turn to say haha!  Don't Worry??  I don't know if I've ever been grateful for a fever of 101, but we'll take it!   Small victories :)

Thank you ALL for your love, support and your PRAYERS for Josh and our family.  This has been so hard, but we've been carried and comforted.  Elder Stott sounds certain that he's improving.  PLEASE, keep those prayers coming!

Hey everybody!

At the Internet Cafe today

Thanks for tuning in for weekly updates with Elder Stott!

So I am doing a whole lot better! After antibiotics, antibiotics, and more antibiotics, and faith - I am starting to feel a little better!

So this week, I went to the Hospital on Tuesday because I was not getting any better. I'd had a 105.1 fever and I went in to get my blood checked. I had been taking an antibiotic but it obviously was not helping (I could've told them that haha). After they tested my blood, the doctors still didn't know what I had. One thing: So a part of the test, tests for protein in my blood that tells if I have an infection. 40 mg/L is considered VERY high - I had 235 mg/L haha.  I was a walking petri dish or something... So they prescribed me 3 antibiotic injections for the next 3 days starting that day. Those where the most painful and uncomfortable injections EVER. It was like they were shooting me up with play-doh. And plus, I couldn't walk normal or straight this whole week (I'll let you add up those dots haha)

On Friday I had my second blood test. So the numbers were improving but they still weren't great. I had about 100 mg/L of the bad proteins in my blood. We met with this guy who walked in with a big gimp and a cane. HA!  I thought to myself that this was kinda like the show House because he looked kinda grumpy and old and had a gimp and a cane... hahaha. Anyways, he was really great and is a specialist in infections and I feel like he knows more than anyone else. He started me on my 3rd antibiotic and were going to see if adding it helps and to see what infection I have on Wednesday! 

On an interesting note: our Doctor in Guatelmala who reviews all medical cases here through the Secretary and Enfermaderas said that my amount of Protein C (235 mg/L) is the highest he's ever seen in 40+ years of working as a doctor HAHAHA!  BUT I'M DOING GREAT :) I promise hahaha

So as for this week, it was really boring. I just had to stay home and rest. I figured out I can sing a little bit higher. Apparently I've lost a lot of weight because I haven't had an appetite at all these past 2 weeks. haha I'm praying that our hot water will be back because even though I'm in Costa Rica, I'm using water from the freakin ARCTIC haha.

They have this weird massage-therapy-medicine thing here in Costa Rica. I don't believe in it haha but people here swear by it. So this guy shows up at a member's house. He was pretty old and he had mineral oil... I had no idea what was going on hahahah! He walks up, starts speaking really fast and rolls up my sleeves and starts massaging my forearms and hands SUPER, SUPER HARD. Yeah, it hurt a lot. And I dont think it helped AT ALL. It's supposed to help with stomach problems or something - and I know what you're thinking and you're right. Haha its complete garbage haha BUT my skin was super soft and I was knot-free which was an exceedingly great blessing hahaha!

Well that's all folks! Hope all is doing well! Pura Vida!

- Elder Stott :)

(Elder Holk)

Week 10 - Not feeling so great

Hey everybody, 

As far as this week, it was the longest and most difficult I think I have ever experienced. Before I start, I don't want anyone to worry because I know that the Lord will bless me soon!So I'll be fine, I promise :)

So on Thursday, my feet started to ache really bad. I thought it was the shoes or something so I just "put my shoulder to the wheel" and kept going. Later in the day, I was exhausted and had no clue as to why.. And by nighttime, I had the worst headache ever and had chills and muscle aches everywhere. I went home a little early and checked my temperature. I had a 105.1 degree fever.. so I immediately took a shower and some NyQuil and when to bed. The next morning on Friday I felt a tiny-bit better and most of the fever was gone but I still had all the aches and the headache. And once again my fever got worse throughout the day and was a 104.8 when I went home and checked. The next day (Saturday) was almost exactly the same except for I asked for a blessing. And then Sunday and now today are exactly the same too. I have been taking huge but safe doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen but they don't really help. 

Turns out I have a mix of a sinus infection, respiratory infection and pneumonia. Pshh, get a load of the mother-of-all bombs haha. The whole time though, I have been working as hard as I can, it's just that I have little-to-no energy and anything other than water upsets my estomicho :( There's a light and the end of the tunnel because I started taking a super heavy antibiotic so hopefully that blast any bug to smithereens haha. 

So like I said, please don't worry, I could just use some extra prayers! 

Oh and to add insult to injury, our power went out yesterday so our stove, hot water and fridge doesn't work so I'm praying really hard for two things now haha.

Always happy but never satisfied!

Elder Joshua Douglas Stott 

Remember, you are always greater than your circumstances! Sorry this was so short, it'll be longer next week and I promise there will be pictures!