Whelp, there goes my first kiss!

 Conference Day Picture yay!

Guess where Elder Johnson baptized yesterday! We can't use the new font since the new building isn't open, and the pool we were using is more or less broken, so to the river it is! I should be sending a picture of me there next week as well :-)

Vaca Santa! Holy Cow! CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING! I got so many good things out of conference :-) Now to go back, study them, and apply them! 

I've grown a special appreciation for what I call machete's. Basically, whenever somebody talks dang straight, calling you to repentance. Of course they can hurt, and often times they aren't done with much finesse, but I love them because they give us specific changes for us to make in our lives. The machete talks of conference were honestly some of my favorite, because now I can easily see ways to improve myself!

I didn't baptize last saturday. The papers, which A was told would be ready Friday, weren't ready until today. This Saturday it is, fijo (for sure). She told us ourselves that whether she had to get temporarily separated or if she got married, she'd be getting baptized this Saturday. She has a wildly strong testimony. 

Oh yeah, the newbie! His name is Elder Velasquez, and he's Latin. He seems pretty cool, he's a little quiet but then again so was I haha. He likes League, so I'm going to use him during my language study to help translate my lessons, which should make them a lot better! Haha. All in all he seems pretty great, I'm actually going on splits with him tonight, while my companion does some baptismal interviews.

We're looking to have 4 baptisms this week, and the other area in our ward is looking to have 2. They're all really really fijo, and it also looks like all 4 of us elders are going to baptize! So hopefully next monday I'll have a picture of 10 people in white, probably by a river :-) We can't use the font in the new chapel and the pool has a million holes in it, so to the river it is haha. 

Alright, before I get the real good spiritual stuff in here, I should stick in the laugh of the week. This is also why the E-mail is titled 'there goes my first kiss!'

On Wednesday, we had to go to Grecia to do a baptismal interview. I was actually feeling really good with my Spanish! I was cracking jokes and everything, and it was rolling really smoothly and it was awesome. Anyways, we get into the house of the guy who needs the interview, and the family comes out to chit chat! First was the guys wife, and then the daughter came out, who's somewhere in the general vincinity of my age. She greets the sisters with kisses like always (the little Latin side kiss thingers). Now, the kicker is that there aren't Elders in Grecia, so not everybody knows all their rules. She walks over towards me and I stick out my hand, and she shakes it and before I can say anything or even respond she (Latin cheek kiss) KISSED ME! I WAS SO RED (according to Elder Ritchie). It was so. awkward. Holy cow. Oh my goodness. It was bad haha. But the worst part was that after that, Elder Ritchie went off to do the interview, and that girl said how Elder Ritchie was 'guapo', which basically means handsome. I started cracking up because she was trying to flirt with him (she was in another room while she was talking to us), until I heard that she said I was guapo, too. Then she complimented my eyes, which doesn't even make sense since I don't have blue eyes, and yeah. It was really bad. Really really really bad.

Alright, there's the laugh for the week. I always thought that I wouldn't have to deal with awkward experiences anymore here on the mission, but I've been thoroughly proved wrong this week.

Alright, I have some pretty nifty (i think) things to share today.

First, I want to talk about Humility. Humility is something that I've always found that I struggle with! It's always seemed like I either lack confidence, or lack Humility! Of course I know that they're two separate things, but I've never been able to separate the two!

I was studying Humility on Saturday Morning before conference, and came to a realization. What Humility really is is a product of trusting in our Heavenly Father and our savior, Jesus Christ. As we honestly, thoroughly trust them, we gain that confidence I was talking about! But as our trust is in them, not ourselves, we remain humble in the knowledge that it is not by our own power that we accomplish things! That's the kicker! In Preach my Gospel, it actually says that increased humility directly means an increase of confidence! So to any of you other there who lack confidence, I exhort you to study Humility.

The other thing that I wanted to talk about was one of the machetes which stood out to me particularly during conference. It was in Jorg Klebingat's talk, which started off by asking the question: 'How would I feel if I had an interview with Christ in 1 minute?'

He talked about, first of 6 points, Taking responsibility for our own spiritual well-being. In essence, not making excuses.

Now, here's the things. None of us have legitimate excuses for under performing. In reality, we just don't.

But, A lot of you probably have some pretty darn legitimate reasons for things that happened! In the eyes of the world, you'd be blameless for blaming that thing. Probably in my eyes too, honestly. But that's not the point. The point of this life isn't to live and hope that good circumstances befall us. The point of this life is to learn and grow, to come to know God.

If we excuse an event because of an outside circumstance, do we learn from that event? Do we give ourselves opportunities to grow, and to come to Know God, through doing that?

No. Absolutely not. Not in any way, shape, or form. So what's the point of making excuses? What's the point of taking the time to point out why we're justified in under-performing? How on this sweet Earth does that help us in our goal?

We need to take responsibility for our own spiritual well-being. Some of us are blessed with a loving home in which the gospel is taught, and some of us are commissioned with the task of being a light in a home that's darkened by the influences of the world. All the same, our spiritual well being is our responsibility. The sooner we ingrain that into our thoughts, the sooner we'll find that we have begun to start progressing in this life.

I love you all so much. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be in Costa Rica, to both show and grow my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Way and the Light, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's Church on the Earth today.

-Elder Henry

 

We got to go into the new chapel last Friday night :-) It is sooo awesome!!!

 Mismo (same)

 Mismo

 Every good buildings got a set of nice fans here in Costa Rica haha

194 Our Conference setup (yes in English) That's a Gringo return senior missionary that came to visit sitting by us :-) She was very nice. Lives in Salt Lake.

206 I found a lizard :-)