McClain Mission Part 2-Costa Rica

McClain Easton Attachments Mon, Jul 18, 2022, 8:58 AM to me Monday again - not a lot of these left. Life has been good here. Hope all are well back at home. Pretty normal week. Just been finding, teaching, helping friends come closer to baptism, and leaving it all on the line for the homestretch. One of our friends keeps an open flame going inside of their house to cook, so there is always a cloud of smoke inside. Gotten nice and used to that one until last night an enormous spider found its way onto my shirt in the middle of the lesson. Could not believe how casually I flicked the little guy away. Becoming desensitized to the daily life here in Tejarcillos. Been thinking a lot about the example of Nephi as one of the greatest missionaries... 18 And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister...

Happy Monday! Things have been awesome here. Work is great, comp is great, mission is doing well, so really having an awesome finish to the mission. Doesn't feel like the end, because I am really more immersed than ever before in the work, but the clock is ticking. Had the baptism of our friend Kerlin yesterday. Super strong convert that we taught almost entirely over the phone because we weren't allowed in her house, but once she came to know the truth of the restoration she didn't look back. Lots of good time spent down in the precario this week. Love hate relationship with the precario. Love to be a missionary here, and the people are awesome, but the smells and stray dogs are taking a toll. Loved this scripture this week: 50 And I said unto them: aIf God had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that I should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say it, it would be done. With divine help and a lot...

McClain Easton Attachments Mon, Jul 4, 2022, 2:59 PM to me Happy Monday! Sorry wasn't able to write last week, things got crazy. We have had some awesome weeks out here. Officially on the last transfer of the mission, and really haven't worked harder the whole time. New comp Elder Mora is a beast, so we have been getting to work. Had the baptisms of Yarik and Jeancarlos in these past 2 weeks. Two studs. Hoping to help their whole families get baptized soon here. Last night a hummingbird flew into the apartment and couldn't find its way out. So we trapped it in a corner in clothing hampers and set the little guy free. Everything seemed back to normal until my comp told me he was feeling a mosquito biting him in the bedroom. Pura Vida. Got to help orient the new missionaries and spend some time picking them up at the airport - really a different experience than normal missionary work. Crazy to see how I must've been 2 years ago stepping off the plane in Bakersfi...

Happy Monday! Some big miracles here. Been really incredibly blessed. This week we found several families, had a bunch of them show up to church, and the biggest highlights were the baptisms of Keisel, Antonio, and Jared. Awesome family we found about 3 weeks ago, and their mom gets baptized this next weekend. Been a transfer full of some wonderful people. Some of the crazy parts of the week - -went on exchanges to one of the wealthier wards in the mission and most of them spoke English -while walking thru the precarios to pick up all of our friends for church, some old man from Nicaragua had a huge pot full of some mystery meat. Enough smoke to cloud up the whole neighborhood. -got some fried pork skin from a member yesterday at dinner. Tried to take a bite and when I couldn't take it pulled off one of my better tricks and fed to my backup. Even my comp had no idea. -started contacting in a new neighborhood up the hill, awesome view and it is just an extension of Nicaragua ...

Happy Monday! Hope all are doing well. Week here was remarkably difficult and incredible at the same time. The rains have gotten more intense than ever before. For 3 days this week the sky absolutely fell out from 12-9 - which is the time we spend outside the apartment every day. We got absolutely torn apart by the rain. Lots of lessons unfortunately fell thru in that time as well. The rain just feels like a character development course. My good shoes got soaked the first day, so I went to backups on day 2. Problem is the backups are backups because they give me blisters. So as if changing my step to avoid blisters become an odd limp wasn't enough, the rain put some huge puddles into my shoes which caused the supports to crumple up. And then kept on going for a good few hours. However - huge smile on my face the whole time. When the Savior is the focus of your life, nothing can shake your joy. Long term joy built upon the Savior and his gospel will always withstand the rains. ...

Happy Monday! Things have been awesome here. Biggest highlight - 4th consecutive week with a baptism. The area here really has so much potential. Special day yesterday for our friend Kristel, who progressed to baptism within just a few weeks. Went over to lunch at her house afterwards to celebrate where her and her friends offered a wide selection of Ticas (Costa Rican women) to take home after the mission. Day in the life of a gringo. Mission president's wife, sister Cates, headed out to teach with us one afternoon this week as well. Considering our area is one of the most dangerous parts of Costa Rica when my comp jokingly mentioned the idea to the president, one thing led to the next and there we were in the Precarios. We think she may be the first woman from the United States to ever step foot in there. One small step for man, one giant leap for the missionaries? Found a family to begin teaching that has progressed super quickly and has a baptismal date for the 19th. Lots o...

Happy Monday! Hope everyone out there had a great week. Things have been interesting here in Alajuelita. Had the baptism of the entire family of our friends that have been being taught for several months. Such a special day. The parents got married to start off the afternoon, and then to follow the entire family was baptized. So it was a solid 5 hours at the chapel, but worth every minute of the process. Had a dog jump on me down near the precario. A precario is a bunch of tin walls squished together to form houses. Plumbing and electricity are spotty down in there, dogs run wild, lots of drugs, but a ton of happy people. Humbling to see how they can be happy in such tough circumstances. Back to the dog. Lucky for me, it didnt bite me immediately. Lucky for the dog, it got down before I had to kick it. Loving Costa Rica. Wonderful people here. Privelaged to be serving them. 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, apray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be fille...