PURA VIDA...It's Been An Amazing Week♥

Bonita Beach

Hey everyone! This was a fun packed week!! Whoo!

Okay, so you already know that Monday we went to the other mission for the dentist. That was quite the adventure. I've always dreamed of having someone contact us interested in the church, and not the other way around. The only time that has happened was when we went to the other mission (the dentist was in the West Mission area) haha. I was like...so I cant really teach you and I'm not really sure how to refer you to the missionaries hahaha. Welp... 

Tuesday we did divisions again!! We had them with the hermanas from Cartago! I was able to work with Hermana Castillo this time! We went back to Birisito and visited Teresa and Jerrardo. Teresa's mom was there and she is very Catholic. However, something that I appreciate about them is that they don't want to argue, they just want to know why we believe the way that we do, and why we don't believe what they believe. I love questions!! Questions are the best, but boy...after 2 hours of questions and people talking over other people, my raging migraine told me it was time to leave. It was a lesson like no other. At the end, I had to take a minute to remind myself that we are responsible for teaching people the Gospel of Christ. Sometimes we are teaching things that are completely different than what some people have ever learned in their lives. We have to be patient and take baby steps! Even though at times it's a little hard, if we truly love the people that we are serving, we will take the time to answer every question and doubt. After the lesson, the hermanas had to go home and Hermana Martinez and I went to Hermana Rocios house to have a birthday dinner for Hermana Martinez. Our obsession lately has been sopazteca. ?? Is that what it's called in English? haha, We have eaten it 3 times in the last week and we love it! There's no rice! Hermana Martinez asked for that. It was good!!

Wednesday...oh boy. WE WENT TO LIMON!!!!! LIMONNNN!!!! So first, why? haha Well, Hermana Martinez is Salvadorena right? But she actually has lived the majority of her life in Peru. She's the only one of her brothers and sisters that was born in El Salvador! Her mom is from El Salvador and her dad is from Peru. She has family from her mom's side that actually lives here in Costa Rica, in Limon. She doesn't know them very well because they have lived here for 23 years, but they have been slowly becoming interested in the gospel! President thought that it would be a really good idea for Hermana Martinez to go meet her family. To get to know them, spend a day with them and introduce the missionaries there! She decided that since Wednesday was her birthday, we should go then! 

Elder Vasquez and Elder Hansen were more than willing to go with us that day so we wouldn't have to take a bus! We went early in the morning and spent almost all day there! First off, I had missed the humidity of Limon! Guapiles is so close to where we were and it felt the same!! Hermana Martinez kept on saying how hot she was and that she was sweating but we just looked at her and laughed saying that it was nothing!! There was hardly any sun out! We got to the house and met her cousins and her aunt and uncle. They were all sooo friendly. We talked for a while, ate breakfast and then headed out to see Limon. We were able to go to Moin beach which is different than most of the others. It's all coral rock but we were able to see many fish so it was nice. 

 

Then we went to the boat terminal. It's called the APM Terminal for all of the import ships. It's the highlight of Limon Central right now! We were able to see shipments of bananas and a bunch of other fruit! They are working on making it bigger and it will be finished in 2018. It will be the biggest boat terminal in all of Latin America! How cool is that?!? 

After, we went to Bonita Beach which is white sand and palm trees. It was beautiful and there were a lot of tourists there. Hermana Martinez's cousin said that a lot of cruise ships have been coming in to Limon. We were also able to go to town and buy patties which are the famous empanadas from Limon! They are made with chili in the dough so they are soooo good. 

PATTIES

BONITA BEACH

BONITA BEACH

Some history about Limon is that the majority of he people there know a language called Patua. It's a combination of English, Spanish and French. I actually understand a lot of it. In the past, a lot of Africans migrated to Limon and that's why there is a thick African culture there. Some speak an African language too. Hermanas don't serve there because they say its dangerous, but It's still fun to go for the day. Elder Hansen wanted to buy a Limon soccer jersey so we were able to go to the stadium!! It was cool, we hardly ever get to do that. It wasn't very big at all but still fun. 

AFTER THAT, haha we went back to the house to eat lunch! RICE AND BEANS!!! Yes that's what its called. There's a typical dish from Limon called rice and beans. I told you they know English. The Africans actually made it and gave it that name. Its sooo good and I missed eating it. In Guapiles we ate a lot of it!! It's basically rice and beans (obvi) and some type of meat (we had chicken) cooked in coconut milk and chili. OH MY GOSH ITS SO GOOD. it's probably the most flavorful thing that you could eat in Costa Rica. We were in Heaven!!

We talked some more and then Elder Hansen and Elder Vasquez brought the Elders from Limon to the house, Elder Fuller and Elder Solares. Hermana Martinez's aunt said that she wants to listen to them and that they can return this next week!! She was so nice to them and well, to all of us. Very welcoming. So, Hermana Martinez and I could not leave Limon without drinking pipa or coconut haha. They had a tree at their house but sadly, the stick that they use to hit them down broke! They wanted to get them for us so bad that her cousins husband went up to the second level, opened the window and started hitting them down up there. We were laughing so hard. It then turned into a competition of who could hit the most down. Elder Vasquez and Elder Hansen even did it. It was hilarious. We drank so many pipas. Hermana Martinez's family were like "Hermana Zerilli drink more!! Have another! You cant drink these in california!!" hahaha It was 4:30 and we had to leave, sadly. We said bye to everyone and thanked them for such a great day! 

We were wiped out on the drive home. All together it was a 6 hour drive. At one point the Elders had to stop for a bathroom break, so we took the mission car for a ride, LOL:)I felt like it was a road trip with my friends haha! I am so thankful that Elder Vasquez and Elder Hansen have always been so great about driving us places. They are great.

We got home and Elder Hansgen called and told us to go to their house. It was 8:30 and we headed over. We got there and the Elders had made chocolate chip pancakes to celebrate Hermana Martinez' birthday!! At the end of the day, we were so happy. What a day!!

So Thursday and Friday, we got to work again. Friday we did divisions AGAIN with the hermanas from 3 Rios! I was able to go with the hija of Hermana Cook! The newbie! Her name is Hermana Lopez and she's from Honduras. She has 5 weeks in the mission and was realllyyy excited to work with me that day hahaha!! I loved it. She's so excited about the mission. That's something that I have always admired about the new missionaries, their motivation to just work! We were able to talk about her training and the mission in general. I loved being able to give her advice and answer her questions. We had some great lessons. I love being able to learn from the hermanas, to see how they teach, what they share and how they explain things to the investigators. It's true that we all come from different backgrounds with different reasons why we are serving. 

It's always a surprise when I work with other hermanas, to hear about their lives and how they have gotten to where they are now. We are all so different and yet all of our lives have led us to this place, here in the mission. The Gospel is what gives us something in common. The day went great. I truly love that little missionary and can see that she is going to grow to be so great in this work!! 

Saturday, Fabian and Suyen got married!!! It was so beautiful! It's incredible how the Gospel changes our lives in different ways. In a little less than a year, they can go to the temple to be sealed for eternity! Fabian has changed so much. Him and Suyen are going to be so happy together. We love them so much and were happy that we could be there!!

Yesterday, was such an amazing Sunday!! Guess who came to church!! Remember Lidieth? and her 2 kids Junior and Judieth?? They came to church for the first time!! Alexa came too! We had 4 investigators in the church!! Lidieth and her kids enjoyed it so much and I couldn't help but smile through the entire Sacrament Meeting. I probably looked ridiculous, I was just so happy. They were happy too. They wanted to stay the entire 3 hours. The members were so great with them too. The members came up to meet them and helped them find their classes. Members even sent us texts today saying that they felt the spirit of missionary work yesterday at church seeing the new family. I was beyond grateful with my Heavenly Father for giving us such a miracle! I have to be honest, we've been working hard but haven't been seeing as many results as we would like to. Yesterday was a great blessing and we felt such joy!

So it was a great week as you can see!! This is the last week before changes. I'm nervous. I'll be honest, I have no clue what's going to happen!! We had interviews with President Hayes last week and he told my companion that he doesn't know what he's going to do with us!! Ahhh we will see!

Have a great week everyone. I love y'all to the United States and back...(and if your reading this from another country...to that country and back :)
Hermana Zerilli♥

chunky strawberry bowl...I'm going all jamba in our apartment:)