Whew! What a week. (I feel like I maybe say something like that every week. Do I? Pfft, welcome to the life of a missionary I guess.)
First of all, this Thursday is changes. Do you know what that means? I have been in CR for 12 weeks!!! I am finishing my training!!! I’m a real missionary! (Please tell me you read that in Pinocchio’s “I’m a real boy” voice) This is exciting. This is also truly terrifying. This means that I will most likely have a new companion in a few days. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
I love Hermana Hernadez so much and I am not really ready to let her go. We are both kind of having separation anxiety, and we haven’t even been separated yet. We are best friends here in CR. I feel like we know basically everything about each other. She has been so patient with my pathetic Spanish and we really love and care for one another. I’m scared that I lucked out with such an awesome companion this time…. Does that mean that the next one will be hard? #prayforme
This also means I will be left in my area alone with someone who doesn’t know anything about the area. Terrifying. I hope my Spanish doesn’t let me down. I hope our investigators aren’t devastated. I hope Rosa and Bernal let us keep coming (Oh yea, I forgot to mention, Rosa is reading the BoM. HOLLA!) I hope I remember all the bills we have to pay. I hope I remember the bus schedules. #gulp
Also, this week we had a Baptismal service that almost didn’t happen. We were on track to baptize Adriana, her brother Alex, and a little girl with a testimony twice her size named Niyeli.
Adriana and Alex were a different story. Okay, to be honest only Adriana. The elders started teaching her before I got here. They realized that she just wasn’t progressing because she has some serious trust issues with men. We picked her up about 6 weeks ago and have been teaching her a could of times a week. She has the hardest life. I won’t go into to many details but we have cried for her many a times. She makes me realize how easy my life is. I feel guilty for ever complaining about anything after I talk to her. Adriana has a testimony. She knows the Savior can, and has helped her with her pain. But she was TERRIFIED to be baptized. Satan really had a grasp on her fear and some how manipulated it so she didn’t want to be baptized. We told her she was doing the right thing, and that Satan was just trying to stop her. She knew that this was true. The morning of the baptism she called to say that “she was just too sick to be baptized today”. We knew she was scared again. Hermana Hernandez talked to her for a LOOOOONG time on the phone. This was the last week she had in the area and she wanted to see Adriana baptized. We convinced her to come to the usual church services prepared to be baptized . If, when the moment came, she didn’t want to be baptized no one was going to force her to do anything she didn’t want.
Church ended and Adriana said no. She just couldn’t do it. We tried not to act too devastated, but we helped Alex and Niyeli get ready for the baptism. At one point, Adriana pulled my companion aside and told her exactly why she was so scared. Again, its probably a little too sensitive to post on the internet for all to see. She told my companion she couldn’t live with the pain any more, that she needed a new life, that she wanted to be baptized. WE were so happy!
That afternoon (Sunday) we also watched the missionary broadcast. HOLY COW! Was it amazing or what? It made me so happy to be here on a mission. The world is changing, one heart at a time! Its so neat to be in the mission field at such an amazing and historic time for the church! #bringtheworldhistruth
And last, but not least, me and my companion just got home from Panama. Okay. That is only half true. Friday my companion got a call that she needed to leave the country and return to renew her visa. I was invited, and because we couldn’t stand the thought of being apart on our last few days together, I went along. We left Sunday for San Jose. Monday morning we woke up at four a.m. and road tripped to Panama. I actually really loved the car ride. COSTA RICA IS SO BEAUTIFUL. I got to see my first glimpses of the ocean here and we basically drove down a rode that followed the shore line all the way down into panama. It was about a 6 hour drive.
Once we got there it was kind of a joke. First of all, PANAMA IS SKINKIN HOOOOOOOT. Costa Rica can be hot too, but holy cow. Panama takes the cake. What we had to do was legally check out of Costa Rica at Boarder patrol, Check in to panama, check out of panama and then check back into Costa Rica. Sounds simple. Apparently they have done this before. But this day Panama boarder control decided to enforce a law that says each person must prove that they have at least $500 to prove they “can make it” in panama. The immigration secretary for the mission started having a conniption fit with the boarder control, with our immigration lawyer on the phone but luckily, not with us. The problem is that as missionaries, we don’t exactly have $500 in our pockets. Okay, so we can’t check into panama. But technically we are only here to check back into Costa Rica. Problem. Its hard to check into a country if you don’t actually check into another country. So this was like a five hour drama of running back and forth over the boarder from Costa Rican Boarder control to Panama Boarder control. Also, remember how its like stiffeling hot? Super fun.
We eventually got everything all straightened out, and my visa has been renewed. 12 hours in a car ride was almost fun.
And now Questions from our readers:
What is dyai?
dyai is a word.... that is used for everything. When you are surprised, you say dyai. When you are frustrated, dyai. When you are excited you exclaim "dyai!" Dyai is Dyai. Also, I am not sure how it is spelt. Possibly Diay? Pronounced Deeaye. D.I.
What happened when you arrived at the temple with no recommend? As a missionary, do they just assume you are worthy? Or a call to the mission president?
Well, I had to fill out a form for the Temple president to look me up I the system and make sure I was worth and such. But as a missionary, they weren’t too worried about it and let me in while we waited for him to get off the phone.
Last but not least I wanted to share my new favorite scripture with you all. Shared with me by a dear friend, and fellow missionary serving in Texas, Houston East.
Luke 4:18-19
deliverance to the hcaptives, andrecovering of sight to the blind, to set at iliberty them that arebruised,
I hope that I can serve an acceptable year and two more months of the Lord.
Love, Hermana Patterson
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