McClain Mission Part 2-Costa Rica

Happy Monday! Huge presidents day celebration here in costa Rica today so barely with have enough time to write this email. But life has been good. Saw some incredible miracles this week. Chelsea was baptized Monday! Special moment for her, and her family, as they have all become more active in the church as a result of her baptism. Then yesterday I'm sacrament meeting I was able to confirm her. Did they show up on time? No. Did the bishop ask me over the pulpit in front of the entire ward where they were? Yes. Was there a stray dog running around the inside of the chapel? Of course. You read that right. But they made it right at the last second and I was able to perform her confirmation and the confirmation of the sister's friend Tomas who was also baptized over the weekend. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the most important part of the confirmation is the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost can be with us in every moment w...

Week 5 Happy Monday everybody! Hope all is well. Getting this email written nice and early, woke up at 5 to head down to Liberia (the capital of Guanacaste) to go to the zoo at a zone. Rumor says it will be like a full on safari with all sorts of African wildlife. President may also be there - Lot of reasons to be stoked for this one! We had a great week here. Yesterday at church several of friends came, contrasting last week when half of the town either got covid or supposedly spent the entire day voting??? But we bounced back and had the chapel as full as it has been! Chelsea is looking forward to her baptism this weekend, and we are hoping to invite our friend Dary to be baptized soon as well. Both of them come from families with members that have drifted away a bit, so although only one will be getting baptized, we are hoping to see several people start coming back to church as well. Had exchanges with elder Higgs this week, brought him up here to Santa Cruz. Started Friday af...

Happy Monday!! Hope you are all having an awesome week! Things got even slightly more Costa Rican this week... Some of the highlights - -mango fell out of a tree and hit me while we were teaching a lesson -chopped and ate some coconuts -huge iguanas crawling on our roof -extremely loud grasshopper lodged in sink drain -went to Tamarindo last week Life has been good. Our friends are doing well for the most part as well! We are hoping to have Chelsea's baptism in 2 weeks, and looking to have some more shortly after. Our area almost feels like a less active version of Utah. Our member record list is about 36 pages long, but we average about 40 people in church, so less than 10% actually come. So we seem to find someone who was baptized years ago every few doors we knock. Unfortunately a lot of them came to church by habit rather tjan testimony, so several have not recovered from covid hitting and keeping them home for a year. Teaches a good lesson, always be searching to become mor...