6:30 Sunshine in Costa Rica‏

**We got several pieces of "an email" this day so I did the best I could to put it into some sense of order - we have been lucky enough to email back and forth a few times so you will see "answers" to questions at times. I will try and put the question in prior to his answers to help it to make more sense.

Okay, so for starters this keyboard that I´m typing on is really terrible and the spacebar hardly works so I´m honestly trying my hardest, especially to dodge all the Spanish keys ñ¿çñ¿ç¡. 

So, this week actually went by really quickly. Everyday we wake up, make a delicious breakfast of eggs and random other things. This week's extras included refried beans (it comes in almost like a juice carton but different, I´m not sure how to explain it). So, eggs + refried beans, white bread, hotdogs, or quesadillas. Usually it´s one or two of the additional things because cheese here is super expensive and we get sick of the hotdogs pretty fast so we try and mix it up so we´re not eating the same stuff every morning. After a killer breakfast like that we get straight to our studies! (Typically, we keep having things to do in the morning that kind of breaks up our studies, but we try).

gallo pinto brought to us from Diego

Gallo pinto is yeah, basically white rice and blackbeans just cooked together, with eggs typically and some sausage. We think that was horse meat but I´m not sure. No, it´s not spicy. I haven't had anything spicy here yet. Elder Parker said ticos are wimps. There´s two main peoples here ticos and Nicaraguans. Parker and Solis are my trainers, but Solis leaves on like the 30th for his home. Parker is from Hawaii. He´s been to Washington a lot, loves the buffets. Solis is from California, from Fresno I think. I actually haven't had that much rice and beans. We eat chicken (fried like KFC) pretty often, or just like the same state of chicken (all bone in) in like a crock pot, but not like a ton because food is expensive. Then we have like salads and hmm.. I don't know, we don't eat at members' or with people often, besides our cook. 

(Side note, the computer is telling me that every word I type is wrong because it´s in Spanish!)

After breakfast our days typically are planned with a bunch of lessons (I really don´t want to type because this keyboard is so terrible). Typically, we try and get a member. We´ve been using Diego or J. Diego is a convert of about 7 months and J was born in the church, and we go and do divisions. Divisions means that one of us goes with the member and the other two (because we´re a trio) goes off on their own, that way we can cover more ground.

Just gunna suck up how bad this keyboard freaking is,‏

only sending this to you because the keyboard is complete garbage and as such my message will be very poor grammar and such so I will let you fix it if you want haha. 

So, I don't know, I honestly don´t really have any highlights from the week. We went out and worked. I guess someone that I contacted last week we finally had the opportunity to have a lesson with but he basically told us he was locked out of his house so we did it at like a bus stop and I didn´t really teach much because with how my Spanish is it is hard to try and teach good principles like my companions. I´m not really that fond of how the older comp. teaches; it doesn't match mine too well, but I´m trying. Depending on who talks, I understand 100% of the Spanish, if they talk really lame and laid back though I don't get much of it.

*question: How much money do you get on your church card a month? How much do things cost?
uhm.. so I got about 140k colones because I didn't have to pay for the apartment rent. They gave that to my companions and then took care of it so all I had to do was buy food, pay for the laundry, and pay for water. Laundry is 10k each, water was only 3k, and food is pretty pricey. It´s mostly more expensive than the states, and anything that is imported from the US is super pricey. Living here is not cheap. 

Our cook cost us 75 mil, so 25 mil each; that was a pretty big hit to our money. I think my companion got like 240 for rent, so rent is over 100 mil. I think they both got 240 so it´s like 200 mil or a little over that, so like $400 maybe? I can´t remember.

**question: How does the money compare to the American dollar? What are the increments? Is it coin or bills?
mil is just how the money works. So 500 colones is a dollar, 1000 colones is a bill, it´s called 1 mil, and then it goes 1 mil, 2 mil, 5 mil, 10 mil, 20 mil, 50mil. Those are the bills, then they have coins for 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500 colones. 5 is a silver coin like a penny size but thinner; it is worth about a penny and you really hardly use them unless you ride a bus that costs 255 colons. 10 is 2 pennies and it´s similar to the other but slightly bigger. 25 and 50 are like goldenish looking coins about the size of quarter but bigger and slightly varying in size; 50 is bigger. 100 is like the size of 2 quarters or so, it´s pretty big and it's gold too, and 500 is just bigger than the 100.  I don't have a 500 but here's the other coins:

**So, if I'm understanding the money right then 1 mil is roughly $2 US? Just trying to figure out costs then there.

Yeah water for 3mil. I think we pay electricity too but I´m not sure as of yet. Cereal is pretty expensive, just food in general is expensive. We don´t buy fresh fruit because you get sick. The only thing I can really talk highly of is that you can buy fried chicken for cheap.. which I´m already kind of sick of and there are like bread shops that sell breads filled with stuff like ham or a custard for Ç600 which is like a $1.20 and they´re pretty decent, so if we´re hungry we go and buy one of those. My companions kind of said that you will kind of learn to be hungry because in different parts in the country like Guanacaste and stuff its more expensive for living and you don't get as many store options like a Walmart or a PriceMart (kind of like Costco, costs 15mil for a membership for a year) and you have to buy all your food from a pricey place.

**Are your companions Zone Leaders? I saw a picture of you and Elder Parker that was posted on Elder Moss's blog.

They aren't zone leaders. Not sure where that Moss elder got it from; they´re just normal missionaries. Parker was a zone leader in the MTC like me.

**How do transfers work? How often are they?

Typically transfers are 5-6 weeks, yeah, but apparently the first week is 4, second is 6, and third is 8 for new missionaries.

**So a member cooks your lunch...how do you do the laundry? Or does a member do that as well for you? 

Yeah, we have a member that cooks our lunches on certain days and a member who does our laundry.

**question: How much does a backpack cost? (he had previously stated he needed to buy one.)

I can get cheapy ones with bad zippers for like 8-12 mil I think, so like $25, and D thinks that you can get one with less bad zippers for like 20 mil, so $40. I´m going to look into it in the next coming weeks, probably after we go take our money out late at night next week. I will take some off my debit card. I´m pretty steller at sewing, I think. Elder Parker borrowed a member's umbrella and it ended up getting like broken and I sewed it and it looked almost perfect. He had string and needles that he took from his dad, his trainer. So I might buy some needles and thread in a few weeks, make my pants and everything last forever with my mad sewing skills! 

I got a picture of me at the mission home today because we had to go there for breakfast, so we had to ride buses for like an hour and a half almost. We had pancakes then took pictures, then we´re back in Heredia now. 

Elder Parker, Elder Solis, Elder Lohberg

Totally an Aaron pose ( :

**Are you going to be okay for money then? Food? Should I mail you something? Did you ever get the letter I mailed to you? I sent it I thought early enough for you to have it when you got to Costa Rica - sad you didn't get it ) :

Yeah, I think we´re okay with money right now. I´m not like a spendoholic, but I´m also not going to save the church's money if it means I have to go hungry haha. I will buy food as needed. I think we´re okay here in Heredia; we have good options store-wise. Don't mail food. I wouldn´t mail anything. Apparently tons of things get stuck in customs if they even make it there and then they want duties, taxes, and they just end up keeping what you send. I think we both know I can go a long time without food. :) Also, I only can check mail when I'm at the mission office or the district leader, and then they bring it back with them. I will be there next Monday, I think, so I can check for that letter. 

view I think from his apartment window - they are on the 2nd floor

**this was a random email we got from an email he was sending to his MTC district people I think and he thought we might think the info was cool too.

That´s the same thing with me too haha! Either super quiet, or super fast, names are the worst for me. I hardly get their names. And all addresses go off like pointing and then meters, or like this ´There´s a McDonald's, you know it? 100 meters south of that and then on the right across the street, it´s a black house with 2 small trees in front´, that´s if you´re lucky. Otherwise they just say `´alla!´´ and point in some random direction and they act like it´s super good instructions haha. (I sent this to my district people and I realized you might find it interesting too. It began by talking about our Spanish, and he talked about how they talk super quiet in Oaxaca, Mexico.

**question: So is it hard to find stuff then with those directions? How do the people react to you asking for directions? Are they willing to help you (friendly) or irritated like how the people were in France?

I need to go mom, love you so much! Only houses are hard to find; they all look similar. Stores are easy to get directions for. The people are like happy to practice Spanish with me. I say, ¨Hey, I´m learning Spanish. Can I practice with you?" they smile and say sure, and then I talked a tiny bit about who they are, what they like, where I´m from, and then I explain why I´m here and start trying to teach them. =) Sneakin´ em into heaven. That´s a joke, but typically everyone lets me practice with them unless they know the missionaries. I have had 2 people say no so far haha out of like 30+ 
I will write more spiritual stuff next week hopefully with a nicer keyboard! 
**mom: cyber {HUG}
  =) hugged back

Elder Lohberg

Dear Brother & Sister Lohberg, 

My name is Senior Hermana Petersen & I'm from South Weber, Utah. Elder Petersen & I had the pleasure of meeting your son, Elder Lohberg, last week when he arrived in the mission field here. The foto below is when he first met his companions & learned where he'll be serving. I just want you to know that he's in good hands with Presidente & Hermana Wilkinson!! We're so glad to have him on board!! Thanks for your sacrifice, in supporting Elder Lohberg on his mission! 

Most Warmly,

Hermana Diane Petersen
Perpetual Education Fund/Self-Reliance Center, San Jose, C.R.
Mission Nurse Specialist Costa Rica Mission (I'm helping out the outgoing & new/young mission nurses. I take the phone calls from all the English-speaking missionaries).

Costa Rica is pretty dang exciting.

Sun from the plane. My God I will go where you want me to go.

I couldn't think of a better subject line for this...
So I got in on Monday, woke up super early, and did a crazy schedule to catch planes to get here. Got picked up by the mission president and we visited the temple (it was like 9:00 so that was about it), then we went to a home near by where we stayed the night. The next morning, we did interviews with the mission president and we got sent with other companionships to form trios or groups of four for that day. I went with two elders; one was a native speaker that didn't really know English and the other was a gringo with 1 month left. 

We went and visited a family that was in a poor part of town because their area was still in San Jose, in the main city, so we visited the poor area of town, which ended up being like a dirt/half gravel road that just branched off the main roads (which honestly are nothing to talk about either). When we got to their house, I had to like duck to get in and they let us sit, and honestly, I was a little afraid at first because I had already seen some smaller cockroaches and stuff at the elders' small apartment but it was fine. There was a little older lady who was super nice and her son and he brought out his whole family and we passed the picture version of the Book of Mormon around. We all took turns reading and it was really cool. Then we talked about General Conference coming up and how we were going to be able to watch the prophets and listen to them. After that they decided to give us some food, so they made like corn tortillas and then like, this weird cheese that is almost flavorless and then something called natilla. Natilla is basically like a semi-sweet sour cream, at least I think. I don't remember what sour cream tastes like, but I don't like natilla really either. So I tried to eat all of it and basically did and then they offered me and Elder Black more corn tortillas so we ate those too, then we had a fresco. Honestly, the fresco was insane; essentially, it's like a fruit juice they make out of specific fruits. There are so many fruits here that I have never heard of or anything. But yeah, so that lesson went really well. The dad wanted to arm wrestle me but he had bad wrists so what he had me do was we like put our wrists together and that's where we arm wrestled. He beat my left arm, no surprise (C), but he got like stuck trying to beat my right one and neither of us could actually beat the other with the right arm. It made me think of arm wrestling you, C haha. 

Anyhow, the next day we took buses back to the mission home (lots of buses here), and we had a breakfast of rice and beans and like eggs. It's pretty common here apparently but I have only had it twice so far. Then they started assigning new people to their trainers. I got Elder Solis and Elder Parker. Elder Solis is from California and he leaves the mission in 3 weeks now, so he's going to be dying and then Elder Parker has been here 10 months but he was in Guanacaste which is more like the country. Right now, our area is Heredia which is like city, no country really; kind of like city and some residential. We have a Walmart too, just went there today. So yeah, from what I have heard there are like 3 more dangerous areas and all 3 also end up being more hot and more humid. The three are Guanacaste, Limon, and some other one that I can't remember. 

Names here are hard. When we're contacting people at the parks in the city, I can hardly catch names because they have double names basically. Like Carlos Eduardo for example, but they say it fast and more quietly so... but yeah, so what has happened is we have had like 10 lessons or 12 so far, I guess, this week, can't exactly remember. Then we do a lot of contacting where you like talk to people in the street. 

Just to focus on people that we started teaching when Elder Parker and I got here, we were walking in a neighborhood one day when Elder Parker saw a kid outside the gate (all the houses have gates, but they end up being just for like, room for a car and then a gate) and so he went up and started talking to the kid and then he knocked on the gate. Typically, you bang something metal on it like a coin and say, "Upe, buenas." It's short for like, "Hello. Excuse me," and so she came over. Her name is T and he told her what our purpose as missionaries was and she let Elder Parker and I in. Elder Solis was with a 19 year old member named M, he's the ward mission leader, so Elder Parker and I went in and taught her and like 3 of her kids (some were like staying upstairs) about faith, repentance, and baptism. After we finished, I asked them if they would get baptized when they found out it was true. They said yes, and then Elder Parker placed a date for October 26, so that was really cool; however, we haven't been able to revisit yet because of conference and also her husband wasn't there. Apparently, he is Christian already, of some sort, so it's not like set yet. We'll have to see where that goes. 

But yeah, we had a baptism on Sunday; her name was D. I only was there for 1 lesson on Friday, I think, where we talked about baptism and the gift of the Holy  Ghost but it was still really cool. I forgot my camera again so.. no photos unfortunately; next week 100% guarantee. Also Sister Wilkinson like talked to me reminding me to get a photo in front of something green or something like that? You'll have to wait a long time if you want that because I'm in the city and there really isn't anything green haha. I think Guanacaste and Limon are the places that are more like what people think of with Costa Rica. Apparently, lots of tourists go to Guanacaste and uhm, that LDS singer from that singing show that went on his mission and is back now, he went there and made a video with the youth. Elder Parker was there and got his mission planner signed haha because he had nothing else. 

But yeah, this is nothing like what I expected. Lots of people here in the city. Cars here have like the right away and they don't stop. There's practically no laws for driving; people only stop because they don't want to get hit, so you wait for a break in cars, or run, or you like play like that frog game where you go after each car and wait for a bit and then keep going. Frogger? But yeah both of my companions are pretty cool. Time has been moving pretty slow and for a while I was like, "Wow, I'm going to die here." It's moved on, I think, but mornings are tough haha. Most apartments have like a video player, like the little portable ones, and so my companions plug in their music and play it. It's mostly like EFY songs but Elder Parker gave a member 1 mil (2 bucks) to download more music from one of the LDS singers, so some of it is actually really good. I think I'm going to buy a USB drive and copy their music for when Elder Solis leaves. So yeah, in 3 weeks Elder Parker will technically be my "dad." There's like a genealogy tree here in the field haha. Trainers are called dads, so they keep saying like "Oh, he's your uncle or cousin" or stuff like that. 

The Spanish was hard to understand at first. I was only getting like 75-80% of it; I think because the teachers in the MTC slow down their speech I needed to get like accustomed, but it's coming back now. Talking is still harder than listening but I'm not to worried at the moment. For the most part, I can say what I need to say. Whew, good thing Google saves drafts! We're at an internet café and my computer like closed the internet for some reason; all is well though. Que mas, uhm, I have seen cockroaches and geckos; they live in the apartments. They aren't in mine right now though but the geckos like kill the bugs and stuff so people leave them. Uhm, I saw some maggots cleaning the apartment today, not a ton but like 6-8. So I killed them. Uhhh, we have a recent convert named D, and he gives us rides. He drove us around like all day today after basketball; he drives really fast and it scares me. Both sides of the road are basically open here, and the police are a joke. I see them go everywhere and do nothing; however, there is like an FBI unit I have seen and they do not mess around. They have giant trucks and one time we were going for lunch in a member's car in between conference sessions and the truck flew up right behind us and blared it's sirens but we had no where to go because a lot of the roads are like basically 1 lane. So that was cool, uhh, I think I get an hour and half of internet time here but I've already used 34 mins. 

General Conference, we watched it in English. We just showed our investigators to the Spanish room and we walked off to a side room for English and listened. It was good; my favorite talks were Elder Bednar's when he talks about how the reason we share the gospel is because we have seen how it has blessed our lives and we want to share that with others. I loved the quote Elder Holland used, as well as his entire talk in general (all the talks were amazing, to be honest. Going to have to reread them again when we get them), but yeah, the quote: "What we do is but a drop in the ocean, yet if we did not do it there would be one less drop in the ocean" #missionarywork. I liked all the jokes about language, "Buenos dias" and the German joke by President Uchtdorf. Overall, it was just really good! 

Dogs here mostly smell bad. Cats are rarely seen, but they're smaller. Haven't seen very many birds but they don't look very cool (probably because I'm in the city). We went to a pizza place on like, Thursday or Friday for lunch, and we bought a half meter pizza, 6 bread sticks, and a 2lt Pepsi for 7500 mil, so like, $15. It was pretty decent, freshly made. Then today we went to a burger place and it was amazing. The one I had had 2 patties, ham, bacon, cheese, and lettuce and then they have their pineapple in a bottle so we put that sauce on too; it was fantastic. Then, you get a fresco so I had something called Cas, it's a fruit that I don't think you can get in the United States, but it was really good. It was a pricy lunch though; it was like $10 each. We were buying for D since he's been driving us everywhere. He droves us on Wednesday night to the ATM to get our money and then we peeled out haha. We do it at night and with a member so we don't risk getting robbed. So the money here is called Colones, it's like 500 to 1 dollar, but some things are pricey here. Soda is cheap, especially Coke. My umbrella was only like $10 and it's pretty nice. I might need more pants and shoes, which kind of sucks haha. I have been talking with my companions and Elder Parker blew through his shoes in Guanacaste because of the roads there, Elder Solis has too. Apparently the rain like eats the shoes from the inside out; your feet get wet and then the inside of your shoe like falls apart. However, I also heard of a guy in one of the areas here in Costa Rica, I don't remember where, but he repairs shoe soles for like $20 using airplane tire, so should I have the opportunity to do that I probably will. 

Yeah, I don't know; it's nothing like I expected here, so far at least in my area. Also there's a member that makes really cool leather scriptures cases, but they're more expensive. Elder Black said his were $70 for his design, and Elder Solis's were $30 he said and his are cool. He has the temple here on one of them and the other is like Captain Moronic [this should say Moroni, but Elder Lohberg's computer changed it to Moronic - we left it :)] with his flag and an army around him. They're sweet, so when I'm in that area I might buy those. Elder Solis said the member that makes the scripture cases, you like send him an email with the design you want, and then he sends em to you, for the fee of course.  

Oh gosh, I was getting out of a member's car and I slammed my knee into something metal. It felt like I had a bubble on my knee and there was like a little bump; it hurt and felt realllllyy weird. It seems to have gotten better though for the most part, still hurts a little to kneel on tile.

Elder Solis, the one who is about to die, said he made his camera make the picture size smaller so he can send more in an email. He said he'll show me how to do that for next time when I have my camera, but I'm not sure if that makes the quality worse or not?
About the picture, hmmm, it might have to be in my apartment. We don't take our cameras outside very often; too much risk of being robbed here in the city. Is that okay? Or hopefully in a few months I will get transferred to like Guanacaste, hopefully not Limon because that is more dangerous, but yeah then I could get a traditional Costa Rica one!

I kind of want to buy a backpack; everyone here uses them but I haven't found a store that sells them yet. Elder Solis says he knows one but they're more expensive here and you can't send me one or anything because most stuff doesn't make it through customs to the US...so I'm not sure what to do.

Aaron: The bishop's son is really cool. We played ball with him and I went contacting with him the other day, it was fun. Honestly Mom, I wake up in the morning and for a while it's like, "What am I doing here? This is insane," and then my companions play their music and it gets better. It also helps that the ringtone for our cellphone, which also is our alarm clock, is the Pokemon theme song; it kind of makes the morning a lot better haha. Then I just get to work and kind of forget. When I eat good food or have a fresco, I forget about how weird this is, but every now and then I think about it and it feels like I'm going to be here forever.

MOM: I can still remember getting to my first area and thinking, "What am I doing here?" and freaking out a bit each day about what was going on - and I wasn't in a foreign country so I can sort of relate. As you get more used to the routine and the country - it will get better. I must say that I personally am doing better than I thought I would be doing with you being gone on your mission. I am so proud of you and time really seems to be going by fast to me - next Monday you will have completed 2 months already of your mission! CRAZY! Seems like we just dropped you off! I went to C's open house last night - she reports Wednesday - but was thinking - when she gets home - you will only have 4 months left - and we will have your travel docs by that time. It will go fast. I have made milestone markers for it - knowing we will talk to you in December etc - just looking for things to look forward to - but I know it will go fast once you get into the work more - Sounds like you've had a great week though teaching discussions etc. The geckos sound cool - keep them around for the bugs - bugs be nasty! If you need more shoes - you can get another pair - I probably should have gotten you 3 pairs instead of just 2. Have you used the bug spray I sent you at all? How bad are the mosquitoes?

Good idea to repair your shoes as you see them start to get holes in them - but try to keep your feet dry so if you need to get new shoes because of that do that because I don't want to see you get an infection in your feet because they are wet.

Aaron: Yeah! I'm hoping I'm okay on shoes and everything. Planning on busting out my glue the second I see tears or rips and then with my pants I'm going to get sewing stuff and just make everything I have last if I can haha. Hopefully it works out. My companions both had like 8 pairs of pants. Elder Solis had to buy more and they've both sewn some. Elder Parker went through two sets of shoes in Guanacaste so he found a place where he could buy black boots so he did that. Anyways I need to go mom, I love you guys so much and pray for your safety. Enjoy it there! Bye!

Made it to Costa Rica

Hey, they are letting us send a quick email just to let you know that we made it okay so yeah we got through the airport at like 7:00 I think haha it may have been more like 8:00.  Also, we can email to let you know about the Facebook page that there is for Costa Rican Mission Parents which I think you are a member of but I wasn't sure anyways, here's the Facebook thing just to make sure ;):Costa Rica San Jose Missionary Parents.  So yeah, we are here in Costa Rica and we met with President Wilkinson and we're going to our first area tomorrow I believe where I will get my first companion! Talk to you guys on Monday.

COSTA RICA Here I Come!

Dear Family,

Welp, this is my last letter to you guys before I head to Costa Rica. I figured I should write you once more before I leave! So, today we had fast Sunday; it's like every 3 weeks here in the MTC. And I didn't get the opportunity to share something I had experienced but it's okay because after our priesthood lesson I was able to share it. Something I have found here in the MTC, and you know how with the gift of the Holy Ghost you say, "receive the Holy Ghost" - it's an action. You have to receive it. Anyways, what I have found here in the MTC is that when I'm not paying attention or something I'm still feeling the Spirit. Any time I sit for a moment, I can feel and recognize the Spirit. I don't think I have ever had this before where I can just sit for a moment and find the spirit. It's really, really cool. Each of you has received the gift of the Holy Ghost, you have been told to receive it, and I encourage you to strive to constantly feel the companionship of the Holy Ghost. I'm sure and I know that it's really hard to do out in the real world, out of Provo and the MTC, but I encourage you to feel it at least once each day if not more.

That's was basically all I had to say. I love you guys so much. Thanks for your prayers and all your support, and keep being righteous and awesome. Kara feel free to post on Facebook whatevs you want, girl! ;)

COSTA RICA Here I COME!

P.S. We said goodbye to our teachers and the other districts and it was sad, lots of hugs. Time to say goodbye to my district for 2 years.

Love, Elder Lohberg
Always and Forever

Say goodbye, oh oh just say goodbye!

Wow, this week has been pretty crazy haha. So this is my last week here in the MTC. Monday was normal - nothing really happened (honestly, I just have no idea what we did Monday. I can't remember). Tuesday, I remember that we went to the devotional and had Elder Ballard come and talk to us. He basically just started it out by saying, "I'm going to talk to you guys like I'm your grandpa" and then he just kind of gave us advice for our mission and stuff. It was really cool and I felt like it was awesome that he was there basically just to help us, I guess. It made me think of the key principle that they drill into your head: Teach people not lessons. So that was cool. Something he said that really stood out for me was that our missions can also help people back home come closer to Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, so he encouraged us to send letters of encouragement and love back home! Que mas, hmm...Wednesday was basically just teaching our "investigators" and such and yeah...Thursday was our last day with E Pence "Brother Pence"and it was kind of sad haha. We've only had like 8 lessons with him, but still we've grown pretty close and learned so much about them that it makes it hard for us to say goodbye. It's even hard to say goodbye to our fake investigators (our teachers). Thursday we said goodbye to B Wright, Bro. Wright, and that was just as hard. I did get photos with both of them - both single and with my whole district, so I guess I will get those home somehow from Costa Rica since I forgot my camera.


They both signed my Costa Rica flag so that was cool haha. E had a really cool looking signature and I asked Hermano LeBron (our first teacher we got) if he had a better one and he like looked at his and was like, "That? That's nothing." He's really funny. His story is insane too.  He was like the leader of a gang in Cleveland with his older brothers and he's literally been shot at and shot at people and stuff; his story is just insanely awesome. I wish I had more time to share it with you guys. Perhaps when I return haha.

Hmm, yesterday we had in-field orientation so we just like walked from classroom to classroom at the main campus from 8:00-6:30 and learned stuff that really wasn't all that helpful. Some of it was, but most of it was kind of common sense. Also, I got to shake Brother/Elder Christensen's hand, from the District, twice haha; because he was one of the guys and he shook my hand, and then decided to go around the entire room shaking hands and ended up shaking mine again. It was dank. So that was cool.

Spent the rest of my money on my MTC card today. I had $14 on it and I bought a Costa Rica shirt and 4 more Hi-Gliders. They're like gel scripture markers and they're really awesome. We did endowments in the temple today and so we got to leave on a good note; just one more super busy day. The branch president is making us go to all our meetings tomorrow so that we can show the only new district how it's done because in our zone there are 3 leaving districts and we just got a new one this last Wednesday (also I got to do like the orientation for them, so that was a lot of fun! Seeing their scared faces). They will be the only district so the branch pres. wants us to come to the meetings, instead of using that time to pack, so they get a good idea of how one works when there are more districts. Our zone is the last to leave west campus and west campus closes Oct. 30th. Can't think of much else that's new. Stoked to leave the MTC, but also kind of sad to leave all the people I've met!

No pictures today (I inserted pictures when they came in) because I forgot my camera at the apartment. I don't have a picture of me by the map thing, but on the camera that is in the box that Jessie and Spencer are picking up that memory card should have one of me at the main campus pointing to Costa Rica. The problem is to get that picture, I have to be at main campus with my camera which you aren't supposed to bring your camera to the devotionals and that's the only time we go to the main campus besides p-day. If I take my camera on p-day, we have to check it at the temple which is a pain in the butt haha.

Today's been good. Lots of things to do and my companions REALLY want to play zone volleyball today, even though we're teaching priesthood tomorrow and we still have to pack and we have like stuff to do, but whatever. Also we're doing like a sleep over with another district from our zone that leaves with us. They're dragging their mattresses over and we're pulling ours down...again not my idea but oh wells.

I'm excited to maybe finally get out of a trio, teaching is way hard to try and balance who talks so much. EL and I don't get along that well. We make it work but our personalities are different. I would relate how I have to deal with him with how I will have to deal with my wife haha. ES is cool but he's like kind of on the line sometimes. He just does what EL wants in some cases, even if he agrees with me.

B and his companion in the MTC bought this cheap bookstore watch haha. It looks like gold/silver; it looks REALLY nice but it was like $15 and it's actually cheap plastic. They're going to see who gets it robbed off them first. I thought that wasn't a good idea, but they want to have a story haha.

Oh hey, SA. I might have met that guy but I'm not sure. If I did meet him, he told me he has been to Costa Rica and he loved the beach. He saw a really scary thing that he had no idea what it was, but I'm not sure haha, that is weird.

It's like slow and quick. Days are so long; weeks are like minutes. I honestly remember the day I got here pretty well, and that week and then everything else I can't remember at all. I did get Laurzia's mail. I'm trying to send out a letter back to them before I leave; probably gunna get it in the box on Sunday. We found stamps in our inheritance from the other zone leaders haha. After my companions bought 10 stamps each, we found FIFTY stamps in one of our boxes, so crazy. That's $25 in stamps haha. We're going to give what's left to Elder Stoker since he'll be in Cali.

I bought a tie that Elder Selfaison's mom made (he's originally from Hawaii). She had Hawaiian fabric and she made ties. He said, "Pay as much as you think it's worth," and so I gave him $10 like everyone else. It's pretty cool looking. At first, I was like mehh because I didn't get to pick a unique one. I got one of the general fabric ones, but it's really cool now haha.

The Secret Room

Alrighty, well this week is probably the highlight of my MTC stay so far. I'm not sure if it was this week or last week, but we technically committed two of our investigators to baptism and our investigators (they all fake) have been progressing really well. I can personally tell that I'm improving as a missionary and as a tool for the Lord. Hmm. We have a TRC investigator, which TRC is basically just like come teach a lesson every day to someone. For a while it was just to older members of the church, so it was like we were doing 20 minute lessons for the members which was easy because we could just like ask them really vague questions and get huge responses from them that made the lesson really strong.

But anyways, we have an investigator in TRC named Carlos who has been pretending to be a nonmember. He's a really logical guy; like REALLY logical, so we would like teach him a principle and then he would talk for 5 minutes and prove like every single principle we taught him. Then we basically were able to commit him to baptism on the second visit haha. It was extremely obvious he was already a member. But he likes to have little fun talks before we begin our lesson, and one time this week, on Thursday I believe, we walked in and he had 2 scriptures written out in a really fancy writing on yellowish-white paper that he had done with a normal regular pen and it looked really cool. So we like complimented him on them and stuff and then he gave them to us, so Lindstrom and I took one because he only had two and then Stoker didn't get one but he was like, "What is your favorite scripture? I'll do it right now," because it only takes like 3 minutes. So Lindstrom stole that option from Stoker and got him to do a scripture for him and gave Stoker the pre-done one, which was really mean, in my opinion.

So I got 1 Nephi 4:6, I believe, and then the next day when we saw him I was like, "Hey, would it be alright if we come by and get some more scriptures written?" and he said of course haha. So that evening (yesterday night), which was technically our lst scheduled lesson with him, he wrote out two more for Lindstrom and 2 more for me and then 1 more for Stoker. I asked for 1 and then Stoker did since we didn't get to choose our original scriptures and then Linstrom was like, "I have 2 but I can't decided between them," and so he was like that's fine I'll do them both and then he did and then I got him to do 1 more haha.  So we're loaded - I have 3 scriptures written out really cool.

Hmmm, lots happened today so I will try and begin with some of the other days. Our Spanish has improved a lot, as such we're able to bring people closer to Christ even better than we could before. :) I'm trying avoid like bragging or talking highly of myself and ourselves because I know it's the Lord helping us haha and not just our learning. Que mas...hmmm...oh the other district left that had 12 elders which took a huge cut out of our zone so I got some photos with them and such.

Elder Scott visited on Tuesday...I think..yeah...and he talked about prayer for the devotional and it was really good. One thing he said that really stuck out to me was that personal prayers will be less scripted and better essentially if you can offer them in a whisper, even a slight whisper rather than just in your head. That was really something that I had never really thought to do, I guess. It was really cool seeing him there.

I really appreciate all the spiritually uplifting thoughts you guys are sharing with me. OH YEAH, so yesterday we got our travel plans. I will be leaving September 29th, not 30th, which was confusing until we got them because half my documents said I would leave on the 29th and the other said 30th. Elder Stoker is the only one from our district leaving on the 30th. He's gunna spend a day with our neighbors who are also going to California after we leave. So yeah, meet at the travel office at 4:35am on the 29th and then my first flight is at 9:40 and I fly to Atlanta, GA. Then I get into Costa Rica at 7:45pm. I was afraid at first because after I get into Costa Rica there was another flight scheduled on the 11th of Nov. to fly back to Atlanta, GA haha, but I heard that's just what the church does. It's easier to get your visa if they think you aren't staying and then they just cancel the flight, which is kind of misleading but hey...hahah. So yeah, I leave the 29th, first flight at 9:40, get to GA at 3:25, next flight is at 4:50, and get into Costa Rica at 7:45. :) Cool beans. We were all stoked to get them hahahah. Elder Stoker didn't get his until later haha and so he was really bummed for a bit.

There's going to be 12 people in my travel group, so that'll be cool and I did meet some other Elders going to Costa Rica. Not sure how I feel about them but we'll see. I'll learn to get over it haha. We've been tracking the days until we get out of the MTC and as far as "real" days go where we're actually learning and doing our usual MTC stuff, we have like 4 left, I think, and then we have infield orientation. ELDER CHRISTENSON, or whatever, from The District does the infield orientation. Apparently, he doesn't give out autographs, but I think I will get to shake his hand. I got to take photos with Z and B before they left on Sunday.

And, today we woke up, went to service. We didn't get up super earlier, we're just doing our laundry right now. So we got to service and then our district leader kind of barely raised his hand so they didn't assign us, which I know is bad...but then we found a service lady and told her this was our last week and we would like to see the secret room. She was like, "I'll see if we can do it," so then she had us help her clean. Then she said we could go, and some sisters showed up...that are really annoying and we don't really like... and we tried to get them to leave so that they wouldn't come with us to the secret room, but it didn't work out and they wouldn't leave. They had no clue what was going on.  So she took us to the building, told us the rules: can't tell anyone where it is and something else..was so excited I didn't really listen. And then we took off our shoes and our loose stuff and she walked to the end of the hall and opened the door and we saw the pillows as high as the ceiling almost (about shoulder height on me). We ran and jumped in and it was freaking awesome. We were in there for like 10-14 minutes, typically you only get two. I do have photos. Both sets of zone leaders from the zones that left told us about it and I had already heard about it but it was like a reminder, so we went. We might try and get to go next week during service if the same girl is there haha. So yeah, it was pretty freaking exciting. And then we went to the temple and did endowments. Then..hmmm. we printed emails, got our hair cut, and here we are!

My haircut, it's not bad. It was really fast. She did like a comb with a handle and the electric razor in one hand and just did it all with that and sprayed everything haha, I said 2 on the sides and long enough on top that I can put it up and it came out okay. I asked if I could have spiked sideburns and she was like, "Not allowed to do that, Elder" but then she just didn't touch my sideburns so I was like, "Sweet, no flat line poop" haha. Also, she didn't shave my neck very well and she used like a vacuum thing to get the extra hair off. No, it was like a larger comb with a handle on it, and then in her other hand was an electric razor like yours. My razor does but I didn't bring it which is okay. I've also only been using my electric razor because of time constraints in the morning haha. 5 guys, 1 bathroom, 30 minutes. It's been hard to get used to not showering every day. The haircut was free - just swiped my card haha. We have like a food card we swipe for meals and it gets $6 every Wednesday to buy stuff with, but haircuts are free.

Los Tres Amigos (Aaron, Zack and Ben)