Kirby, James

Hi Everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. Here’s a quick update on my week. Last P-day, we packed our suitcases, cleaned the house, and played some basketball. During our practice, we played a 4-on-4 game with some teens and their coach who were practicing handball. My team included Elder Foxx, a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old, and me. The other team consisted of three 17-year-olds and their coach, who was about 50. We were playing to have fun, but the other team's coach was constantly yelling at his players. When they started picking on the kids on our team, we decided to step up our game. After we scored several times, the coach got increasingly angry. The game ended when Elder Foxx blocked his layup. The coach claimed Foxx hit him in the neck and that I hit him in the back of the head, even though I was five feet away, guarding someone else, and Foxx only hit the ball. The coach stormed off, yelling that we weren't believers in Christ, which had nothing to do with the game. We ...

Hi Everyone, I apologize for the delay in sending out my weekly email. Here’s what happened this past week: > Saturday: We finished up exchanges, but unfortunately, most of our plans fell through. While cleaning the church, a hose bib burst, causing a bit of a mess, so we spent some time cleaning and repairing it. > Sunday: We were a little disappointed that only eight people attended church. Afterward, we visited those who had intended to come but couldn't make it. Most were sick, while others had other commitments. > Monday: We relaxed in hammocks and played basketball since our plans to visit the stake center were canceled. We did have some meaningful lessons and a nice dinner. > Tuesday: We attended zone conferences and caught up with people I hadn't seen in a while. After some Ready Pizza, we returned to La Cruz and participated in a family history activity at the church with the stake president. > Wednesday: It was a pretty normal day. We spent time with Pe...

Hi Everyone, I hope you're all doing well! Here’s a look at how my week has been: >Monday: we went to Pali with luis to help him pick up some groceries. The afternoon was pretty laid-back due to the intense heat. After P-day ended, we had some really productive lessons. >Tuesday: We had our district council meeting via video call. It was quite interesting as the sisters wanted to sing, which didn't translate very well over the call. A repairman came to fix our shower, but unfortunately, he made it worse—it started leaking from the handle after he left. Later, we had great lessons with Jhon, David, Ana Lucia, Jimela, and Patricia. We also visited Aida, who treated us to some delicious food, and we had a meaningful discussion about Ether 12. > Wednesday: We started with a small service project and then had an adventure with Pepe, who, as usual, was intoxicated. He was cat-calling and talking to random people, so we made our excuses and left. Afterward, we visited Isral a...

Sorry for the delayed update. I've finally caught up on my journaling and emails, so here's what I've been up to this week. Last Monday was great! I went to Ponderosa for the third time. We had a really good group this time around; it was small enough that we all stayed together. It was fun to hang out with everyone. They even had Mountain Dew, which is pretty rare here in Costa Rica. On Tuesday, we had district council in Liberia, ate Ready Pizza, and started exchanges with Filadelfia. I got to go back after being away for a year! It was awesome to see many of the people I had taught and members I was really close to. Wednesday, we met some college students from Germany and did some translating for them. We ended up with a lot of food that day. We also met a photographer from Norway who is married to a Costa Rican. This week, more people were feeling better and able to be home, so we had a lot of good lessons. The big news is that I'm being transferred to Heredia, wher...

Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well. This will be a quick update since many of our plans for the week changed unexpectedly. Last preparation day, we took it easy and played some basketball against a group of teenagers at the park. We also had an interesting experience knocking doors – one man actually climbed out his window to avoid us, but we ended up having a good conversation about tithing. We also spoke with the legendary Pepe, who's the brother of a member and quite the character around town. He always tries to speak English with us, but it's usually unintelligible due to his, shall we say, "merry" state. We also happened upon a massive bonfire during one of our walks. We had exchanges this week as well. Elder Brito and I stayed in La Cruz, while Elder Foxx went to San Roque with Elder Maynes. Elder Brito and I ended up contacting for almost five hours since our other plans fell through. Take care, Elder Kirby  Photos:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/ 991BzU...