Soaking Wet

I AM SOAKING WET.

Do you know how wet the wet season in Costa Rica can be? Let me tell ya…. Wet.

My companion left her only umbrella in a taxi pirata, and my umbrella is super small and broken for the two of us. It’s a miracle that one of the two of us hasn’t gotten sick yet. The good news is that we heard that sister missionaries in our mission are now allowed to use sandals because so many sisters are getting funguses and infections. THE CHACOS COME OUT TO PLAY!

Its been another great week here in Escazu. I cant believe that I have been here almost a month. Time has FLOWN. We work so hard all day long and so we always have so much going on that we collapse into bed at the end of the day. I LOVE IT. I think maybe I have always thrived in crazy busy situations. The problem is that we are noticing that its starting to slow down, so its time to bump up the speed. To infinity and BEYOND! Okay, yea, I'm a total Disney nerd.

We had a double baptism this Saturday.

First Kelley. I cant actually call her my convert, because I never actually taught her. She was studying with the sisters until I got here. The day I got to Escazu she moved to Alejulita and so had to study with the Elders there. But because she wanted my companion to be at her baptism so badly, she wanted to be baptized here. Also, she is the sister of Brandon, Donaldo, Joshua and that whole gang. So it worked out. She is a HOOT. I feel like maybe we were best friends in the premortal life.

Also, Lisamar. Oh Lisamar. She is DARLING. She is basically a Latina version of Alyssa Whipple. So sweet, so spiritual (for her age), and just all around adorable. She found out that Kelly was going to be baptized Saturday on Friday, and because her family is friends with Kelly´s family, wanted to be baptized with Kelly. We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off to get everything ready  before the next day. It was fun.

We bought Brownie mix from Pricemart (Costa Rican Costco) and made them for the baptism. They were to DIE FOR. I didn’t realize that I liked brownies so much. I think anything that tastes like home starts to be AMAZING. Okay, anything that isn’t rice and beans.

Question from our readers:

How is your new area different from your old area?

Well, Escazu is definitely more city.  Los santos was all mountain, and colder. Escazu is closer to San Jose, and we frequently go for small things. Unlike Los Santos where the bus alone was 2 hours to  get to San Jose, and it usually required a day trip. Los Santos didn’t have ANY Americans, on the other hand Escazu is known for  being ¨gringo territory¨. The American Embassy is here, so there are a lot of Americans who live in Escazu, and all around, just a lot of us. Escazu has Walmart, Pricemart, a HUGE BEAUTIFUL mall, and sometimes it feels like America. Los santos barely had a grocery store. Escazu is a ward (A WARD!) Los Santos was a branch. I sometimes feel like I am in a different country. Haha. Not really, but almost.

do you still wash your own clothes? 

Yes, but we have a washing machine! HEAVEN!

 cook your own food? Ugh… yes. In Los Santos, one of the members feed us lunch every day (We paid her)

  do you like your companion? I love her. She is amazing. She is so obedient and motivates me to be better every single day. She might have changes this week. I am PRAYING that she doesn’t.

how is the work different there? In Los Santos all we heard was ¨We are not interested we are (non practicing) Catholics¨. Here a lot more people are willing to give us a shot. It makes a big difference in our motivation levels.

 what do you get to do for Halloween? Go home early. Haha. I am actually kind of excited. My companion might have changes that day. Booooo…… But one of the elders found candy corn in one of the gringo stores, so I might need to go get some of that…..

What do you like better?  What do you miss about the old area? 

I basically only miss the cool weather, and the people. But to be honest, if I had to choose to live in Costa Rica one day, I would totally live in Escazu.

Well, I think that’s about all folks!

Peace and blessings, Peace and blessings.

Xoxo Hna Patterson   Picture on right: 

My missionary family (My mom/trainer, my sister/ trainers newbie, and my grandma/ trainers trainer who goes  home in two weeks)

Picture on left: 

my new zone

Celula and Cellular

oopppps! apparently I only sent last weeks email to one person. MY BAD.  Well lucky for you folks, this week you get double, #ohwhatfun

What a crazy week we had. 

First of all, we had hardly a full day to work in our area this week. It felt weird. There are people who we usually see regularly that we barely even got to see. 

The main reason is that I spent two, half days at immigration. GOOD NEWS FOLKS! I´m legal! I´m tica! Im here for good! Haha. No but really, I am legal. I have a cute little ID (celula) with my name on it and everything. I would attach a photo if I wasn't afraid of.....stuff. Dealing with government offices is always a joke and a half. The good news is that I basically just had to act like I owned the place to get things done. Gringos get priority (apparently.... hurray for the good kind of racism! .... is there a good kind? Probably not) 

The other cool thing that happened this week is the mission got a visit from Elder Amado of the Quorum of the 70. He is also our Area authority. It was a very .... long meeting. It was good, the only thing is he spent like an hour lecturing on how we should get married ASAP, which is.... not helpful on the mission. No but it really was good and I learned some good stuff. It is always fun to see the other missionaries.

The best part of the Elder Amado meeting is that we FINALLY GOT CELL PHONES! *key the hallelujah chorus* The work here in Costa Rica just got SO MUCH more effective. You have NO IDEA how frustrating it is and how much time we waste when we don't have cell phones. If you need to find a missionary when they are not at home, TOO BAD. If you are trying to find a house (because Costa Rica addresses are terrible) but you have a phone number, TOO BAD. If you are waiting outside an gated apartment complex and trying to yell loud enough so the person you are trying to contact can hear you, and they don't... TOO BAD. All of our wildest missionary dreams basically have come true. 

Also, this week Joshua was baptized. Joshua is Brandon and Donaldos younger brother. The gospel is changing this family in so many beautiful ways! They have such strong spirits and we love this family to DEATH. We also got some REALLY good news which I would share with you, but I think I will leave it as a cliff hanger. Also, because I don't want to jinx it. 

I am still loving Escazu. I feel right at home. I am growing as a missionary and my testimony continues to grow EVERY single day. 

Escazu is (maybe) missionary heaven

View from Anonos

Hey everybody!
I am not even going to say how quickly this last week flew by (wasn't that ironic?).
What to say, what to say……
We are cruising. We have a LOT going on in the area. One of the highlights for me was the ward (WARD!) activity on Saturday. As a companionship we have felt that we needed to start working closer to the chapel and work more with the members. We are having a bit of a rocky start because we have ZERO investigators in that part of our area. But, you know, gots ta trust the spirit.
We decided it would be a good idea to spend a good chunk of our day helping set up and participating in the activity to help us get more confidence with the members.
The activity was a cultural event. Apparently almost all of the American families in our ward (WARD!) have also lived in other countries. So each family that has experience in different countries set up a table display with pictures and food from that country. It was really cute. They also had traditional tamales and folk dancers for Costa Rica. It was all super great.

The best part is that we met Enrique. We had actually passed him in the street about an hour before the activity started. He was enticed by the beautiful chapel we have and decided to walk in. He immediately met the bishop, who introduced him to us. Basically its been a whirlwind from there. He is incredible. He has such a hunger for the gospel, and we have a hard time keeping up with all his questions about the Book of Mormon/ the church. He said that when he passed us on the street he was on his way to go drink a beer at the bar, then go home to sleep, but that ¨something inside told him that he should go visit this church¨. He is super smart and has so many great questions. He stayed for the whole activity, but we ended up teaching him a lesson about the Book of Mormon. The next day he came to all 3 hours of church. He said he was up all night reading and that he has LOOOOOTS of questions. (I could cry from happiness).
Anyways, as you can tell, we are REAL excited.
We also work with Brandon and Donaldo (brothers) who were both baptized in the last few weeks. They take good care of us when we get too scared to walk to appointments in the ghetto at night and act as our ¨body guards¨ even though they are both green beans.
Today we went to the mall and I got super trunky. It feels like America. It even has the Gap. Escazu might be Costa Rican missionary heaven.
I am amazed how quickly I adjusted to my new area and how much I love the people so quickly. I know its such a blessing and I am becoming a better missionary every single day.
Xoxo
Hermana Patterson

Welcome to Escazu

 "Dios Es Bueno" = God is good



Hello everyone,
Oh my heart. You would not BELIEVE the week I have had. EASILY the CRAZIEST week yet (Not hard, but crazy).
First of all….
I GOT TRANSFERRED. Ya. In the middle of a change.  Emergency changes.  They took the sisters out of Los Santos leaving just the elders.  To be honest, I am really sad. Los Santos really needs more missionaries, not less, but what can you do? Apparently there were quite a few areas in the mission that got closed, but we still took it pretty hard. First off, the Los Santos branch is DEVISTATED. They were FINALLY working with us, only to have us ripped away in about 8 hours notice.  So our Zone Leaders call us Tuesday night at around 10 pm to tell us that they are closing our area, and we needed to be in the office by the next mid day.  We didn’t have any idea it was coming, so we had to run around ALL night to pack, make phone calls, cry (a lot) and write good bye notes to everyone that we knew we wouldn’t have time to say goodbye to (basically everyone).  SUCH A BAD NIGHT.

Anyways, now with the new.
My area is called Escazu. I…. love it. I'm serious. I love it.
Its so DIFFERENT. Okay first of all, we are about 30 minutes from San Jose. So great.
Escazu is so interesting. We literally have the super rich, and then also the super poor. And people I am talking, millionaires status and then people who have dirt floors. Basically its my dream area because it appeals to the two sides of me:
Side 1: The side that likes to shop at City creek and wear pink lipstick on a daily basis.
Side 2: The side that likes to visit Guatemala and sit in the dirt for a week.
Like I said, I love it. The ward (A WARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  is so interesting. We actually have a decent group of (very wealthy) American families that are here living for business. We also have Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans.  The diversity is enchanting. The dynamic is interesting.  The chapel is BEAUTIFUL!  Its new and HUGE compared to what I have been working with. It feels like church again! Haha.
The weather (and the trendy, artisan shops with yoga studios next door) remind me so much of Danville. Okay, basically, part of Escazu (the wealthy area) is Latino Danville -so ,you know, I love it.
We have Walmart, Pricemart (Costco) and other random American goods such as Mrs Fields, TGI Fridays, Tony Romas  and Payless.  I feel like I'm in a different country.
Conference was awesome. Because there are so many Americans in the ward, I got to see it in ENGLISH! HALLELUJAH! It just brings SUCH a spirit when President Eyering/Elder Holland/ basically any speaker start choking up and you can just FEEL how strongly they feel about the gospel. We even had a pancake breakfast at 9 am Sunday for the session started, hosted by (you guessed it) one of the American moms. Its was pretty amusing because many Ticos didn’t know how to eat pancakes. #thesmalljoys

We also had a baptism yesterday #imjustthatgood. Basically the day I got there Donaldo was asking if he could be baptized( #socksknockedoff ) this week. Um… YES. So we finished all the lessons, got his interview and baptized him in about 3 days time.
Like I said, I'm going to like this area.
Also, my companion is so great. She reminds me of Hermana Hernandez a lot and I think we are going to get along. She is also the most obedient companion which motivates me to be better every single day. I love her! She is a POWERFUL teacher and she LOVES the people. We actually came to Costa Rica the same day and have almost the same time in the mission. Her name is Hermana Garcia and she is from Pueblo, Mexico. She is 22 years old, and (of coarse) shorter then me.
All is well here! I am sad to say goodbye to the people I love so much in Los Santos, but the Lord has some GOOD things in store. #HEISTHEBEST
Until next week!
Xoxo Hermana Patterson

  Left:  Me and my second companion Hermana Hernandez

Right:  Me and my new (3rd) Companion Hermana Garcia

Note from Lexi's mom:
Have you written Lexi lately?  Does she know what's new with you?  Do you have a question for her?  WRITE HER NOW at alexis.patterson@myldsmail.net

Dearest Children

Hello everyone!

I feel like I say this every week, but wow! Time FLIES on the mission!  So much always is happening, and then when it gets time to sit down and write my weekly letter, I cant think of ANYTHING to say. Ha. 

Who is getting excited for Conference???? I AM! I cant believe that its been a year since the historic missionary age change that has brought me to where I am today. I whole year has gone by? Seriously? That day It was just me and Sara Felix in our little 309 apartment in Rexburg. And now here I am.... and Sara enters the MTC in just a few short days! Life is such an adventure. 

I cant wait to hear what our living prophet has to say to us. I´ve got a LOT of things to work on in change, and I could really use the help of prophets and apostles. Needless to say, I am excited.

This week the Elders had another Baptism. Elieser (Tito) is basically a gringo. Elder Hawley taught him all the lessons in English. He is Costa Rican, but basically grew up in New Jersey and prefers english. Anyways, the baptism was really great and Tito is an awesome kid. He was the most excited for his baptism then anyone I have ever seen. The spirit was so strong and he is going to be an AWESOME member of the church. 

I have been singing this hymn all morning to myself. I have sung it before, but today the lyrics seem really profound. 

Dearest children, God is near you,

Watching o'er you day and night,

And delights to own and bless you,

If you strive to do what's right.

He will bless you, He will bless you,

If you put your trust in him.

That is something I am learning how to do. Trust the Lord. I didn't realize before now that I put way too much trust in myself and not enough in him. I cant do this without him. And he delights to bless me, so why am I wasting time?

Love you all!

Trust the Lord

Have an awesome week! 

xoxo Hermana Patterson