Costa Rica!

Finally in Costa Rica. It is so humid here. Even sitting in the apartment, you sweat. It rains a good amount at least once a day. The people of Alajuela are so nice. My trainer's name is Elder Scott. He is pretty cool. He's from Arizona and has been here for 8 months, and he speaks really good spanish. We didn't watch a lot of General Conference because we were out walking around helping the members get on and watch. I'll probably take some personal study time and catch up. While we were out on the street, we met a guy who believed in Jesus, was an Atheist and Satanist. I'm not sure how that works, but it is what it is. Everyone here seems to start getting ready for bed around 7 (or they are avoiding us), but it's tough to find people and make calls, when no one answers when we "knock" or call. We don't knock doors with our hands. We call out from their gate, and if they come out, then we talk with them. My Spanish hasn't changed much, and everyone speaks a lot faster here than the teachers and other missionaries in the CCM. I will get the main points of the lessons down in spanish so I can start talking more in lessons. The food has been interesting but incredible. For instance, we had the famous Gallo Pinto, which is rice, beans, and a bit of sauce. I'm not sure what the sause is. It was delicious, and I had maybe three bowls. If we had it for every meal, I would walk off the plane back home with 40-60 more pounds on me. The food that was interesting was hot dogs with lettuce, crushed crackers, mayo, and ketchup. It's different, but it's honestly delicious. Being in the mission for real has been awesome. I feel the spirit so strongly, my scripture study has never been better, and I'm so excited to be able to learn the language and be able to teach the gospel and interact with them in their own language. 

 

-Elder Kirby

 

Pictures: 


1. Me and Elder Scott

2. One of the recent convert families has a daughter who drew me while we were having dinner with the family. She is 14 or 15. She draws one for every new missionary that comes over for dinner. It is currently hung up above my desk. 

4. The first picture off the plane 

2. Some of the food. This picture is chiferijo




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