God's Really Good at Planning Stuff.

Sick shot! A picture of me right after I got done puking (I tried my best to look happy)

Elder Gonzalez, minion-ized

Elder Gonzalez, name tagging his ears

Me too, obviously

Elder Gonzalez sleeping while he was waiting for district meeting to start, and it looks like he was sucking his thumb haha

Elder Gonzalez got a little sleepy in the conference we had on Sunday (there wasn't space in the chapel so we were outside)

Lunch with Bryan and Rachel!

Well this week sure has been eventful.

     All the wildness started on Monday. On Monday night the zone leaders informed me that I was going to be the District Leader. So, I had approximately 1 hour to think about what I wanted to teach in district meeting, the opportunity to sleep on it, and then 1 hour more to prepare. It was really unexpected, because it all happened because like half the areas in our zone changed. Half the zone went to the zone Cartago, and my district came from the zone La Paz (and us, from La Sabana). So, even though there weren't many changes in the zone, the whole zone changed, including the zone leaders (because the zone leader became part of Cartago). Craziness!

     Then Tuesday was me trying to get settled in, scribbling ideas and number-taking and information about my missionaries and everything. Good, solid day, ready to knock it out on Wednesday!

     But Wednesday there was a slight malfunction. I don't know what it was, and my companion didn't get sick even though we eat the same, but I got food poisoning real bad from something or other. About lunchtime I started feeling bad, so I didn't lunch, and then at like 3 I puked out everything I had. Alright, I felt better, so we went to work. At our first lesson I drank a little bit of water so I wouldn't get dehydrated. We left the lesson, started walking in the street, and about 2 minutes later I was puking on the street!

     Alright. Now, for realsies, everything's gone. We try to go to work, until I realized that I was way too badly ill  to be working. So we went to the church so I could lay down and get some rest. Waiting there, we had the Hermana Ponce come, to bring her new companion (new new new to the country), Hermana Turner, so we could get to know her! And as my companion went to open the door for them, I was outside on the sidewalk barfing again. So at that point I decided it was time to head home for the day (like 6 PM), so bishop gave us a ride home and I hit the hay.

     But I couldn't sleep! And I was also really worried about getting dehydrated, so I drank a little bit of water and powerade and, at about 9 o'clock, a banana. I was starting to feel better, until I puked it all up again at 11. Ugh.

     I basically didn't sleep all night and the next day I feel like junk, which concludes Wednesday and Thursday, and then Friday I was back and ready for action. So we got out and hit the pavement, and had some really great experiences. We went with Manuel, an investigator who, in the 2 weeks we've known him, first read the first 15 chapters of 3rd Nephi, and now finished the whole book of 1st Nephi. We had a really sweet experience there, because even with all the doubts that he has, he can feel the truth of the Book of Mormon, commenting to us about how he wishes he could be like Nephi and that Nephi was his life role-model, and he hopes that the book really is true. After that the day was pretty slow, also due to the lack of sleep I think.

     Saturday we had an activity in the Church celebrating the 25th of July! Here in Costa Rica, that's the anniversary of the annexation of Guanacaste, a large part of the country, because before it was a part of Nicaragua. So that was fun, and we had a couple investigators show up and enjoy themselves, too.

     We roll on out to Sunday, which wasn't a normal day either, as church started at 11 AM in the stake center, to announce the stake changes. The Cartago and Guapiles stakes were made, and necessary changes and shifts were made to the stake Los Yoses, La Sabana, and La Paz. After that we had a good day, did some divisions with the members, and finished off eating ice cream with one of the member families here.

     Well, I imagine this week is going to be a little more calm, but I know that I'm in for a lot of excitement, being a District Leader. You really get a whole lot more than you're waiting for as a missionary, and some weeks everything just hits you at once! Spiritual experiences, getting to know new people and new places, and, most importantly, funny stories. :)

     I love you all! Have a wonderful week! Enjoy the good moments, and remember that the bad ones will make for a great story afterwards.

-Elder Henry

(From other emails) Nope, the only change I got was becoming a District Leader. Sorry for the early morning surprise, but now that I'm the district leader boss man, I put order to the house. We're always going to be writing early (9 or 10) if we don't have anything extra-ordinary to do. Oh don't worry mom I'm not a dictator DL haha. I'm loving my District so much. Also, good news, my English is on the up-hill. Since in the district there's 5 gringo and 3 Latinos, I talk with them in English a lot :) And it's super fun.

No my District is great, but I was very clear to them about how important being punctual is. My mommy taught me 10 minutes early! haha. Oh, and 4 of us are from my MTC group (Elder Nielsen and Nelson, and Hermana Markle.). So I already know them really well haha. It has been really interesting to see the Lord's hand in not putting me as a District Leader until now, mom. I just realize that before I wouldn't have been able to do it right. I needed my time, and especially my time here in Paso Ancho, until I was ready to do it. God's really good at planning stuff!