It is the Spirit that counts.

This was such a wonderful week.

On the first page of Chapter 4 of my Preach My gospel, How to recognize the Holy Ghost, I have a quote by Ezra Taft Benson written:

"Remember, brethren, in this work it is the Spirit that counts."

Oosh! Only in the Zona Sur.

I think that just with that quote, I pretty much summed the week up!

President Hayes, our mission president, changed the schedule to help us have our full 3 hours of studies every day. So he pushed district meetings and weekly planning to the afternoon on their respective days, and we have all our studies in the mornings. It's made all the difference, because in this work, it's the Spirit that counts. It's been so wonderful to be studying every day. I feel the Spirit so much more in my life. Between those regularities in the schedule, and things we have to do as Zone Leaders (exchanges, extra meetings, etc.), I really had been deprived of my study time in these past few months. As I study every day again, a wonderful Spirit fills my life and the work becomes much more meaningful.

We met a new investigator. When we started talking to him in his doorway, he expressed to us that he didn't believe in Jesus Christ -- at least not the way that many of the churches talked about him nowadays. As we entered and started to listen to what he believed, it was clear that even he wasn't sure what to believe! And so we read in Alma 22 when Lamoni's father prays to God, asking him to be made manifest if he existed. And we started to explain to him that we weren't there to contend with him, rather explain to him the Doctrine of God and invite him to pray and know for himself it's truth. And this men just lit up. He started to explain to us that he didn't even like to share his beliefs anymore, because whenever he talked about religion, people just starting condemning him and saying that he was going to hell for not believing. And we could just feel the Spirit so sweetly with him. We went back and had a 2nd lesson and kept helping him with his doubts, an explained to him the Book of Mormon. But it was so edifying, both for us and, more importantly, for him. He's got a long ways to go, but he really has let the Spirit touch his heart.

And there's just been a ton of experiences like that this week! People are just coming out of the woodwork and we're having these spiritual experiences with them. And I know that it's a fruit of our efforts to be better missionaries and, especially, of studying every day.

I love this work. I love it with all my heart. I love it because I do it out of good will. I want to study, I want to work, and I want to teach, I want to obey. and the Lord helps me do what I could never do on my own. I know that He lives. He loves us. I've felt His love this week.

Have a great week, everyone! Love the simple details of life.

Proselyting with Shiblon, he is true to his name ;)

A little bug that always makes a ton of noise

 

 

Bird got into our house! Things always seem to fly into our house....

There's a bird on my towel!

Cavernas Fila de Cal: Lessons from a hike in the caves

Gringos go to the caves, but they take a super long trail on the hill instead of going through the river. I don't think you'll ever go there though, Mom. A little bit of a rough trail for ladies :P

Hey so the video (below) I just sent is a super awesome lizard here in Zona Sur that walks on water. So we managed to record it one time. Whenever I see them I feel like I'm in Jurassic Park haha

Hey mom! That's super cool about Sherry in the play.

Hello from the jungle!  We just went to some super awesome caves!

I really did go into the jungle today! We went hiking and went to explore some caves here in our area with one of my favorite investigators, Ruma. It was a really wonderful experience. After walking about 40 minutes into the middle of the jungle (it's not really even a trail, we just went up the bank of the river), we got to the entrance of the caves. When you enter the caves, you just enter a whole other world. From the bright greens and blues...to blacks and grays. There were these little 6-legged spider looking thinks which I'm almost sure were blind, and little grashopper looking things with giant antennas (the antennas looked like big daddy long leg legs). Then, after we got in a little farther, we saw some cool stalagmites & stalactites, a river that goes through the cave, some really cool rock structures that the water has formed through the years, and "ELDER CHILD" written on the cave wall (that one really made me laugh). But honestly, when we turned off our flashlights and saw just how dark it was in that cave, Elder Ferrin made an interesting comment:   "Just imagine the Nephites for 3 days like this".

It might have been just a side comment for him, but it really made me think a little bit.

My whole mission has been great and has helped me so much become a better person and learn more about the scriptures and the gospel, but I have been able to have a very unique experience here in Zona Sur.

Zona Sur has brought physical conditions that I've never been in before! Let me explain myself.

I had never lived in the heat before. Nor a realy humid place. Nor jungle! I had never visited people who's life is cutting palm oil plants on the farms. I had never "mowed" a lawn with a machete! It's honestly just a different world!

But the special part is that this world is helping me to understand the scriptures in a personal way. When I spent 30 seconds in the pitch-blackness of that cave, I really started to understand how the people felt in 3rd nephi when the land was covered with darkness for 3 days. That's insane! I never had really imagined it until I lived it, even though it was just for a second.

I had never though about Peter walking around, whining about the heat before, but Jerusalem and all that is a pretty hot and deserty place! And now I feel that, walking around in the heat all day. When I fast here and stop sweating because my body just doesn't have water to sweat anymore, it really helps me to ponder on Jesus's 40 day fast.

It's a great help for me to really understand the scriptures in a personal way.

Apart from that, I'm really happy with this week. Elder Nuñez and I really weren't achieving our potential as a companionship, but we put a new plan in practice to manage an area so big in a more orderly manner, and we really saw big results this week. It helped a ton and now I do feel like we're realizing our potential. I love this work. Tough days exist, obviously, but I feel like every day I fall in love a little bit more with the missionary work. There's nothing else I'd rather be doing.

I love you all. Keep safe and have a great week!

-Elder Henry

Check out these Christmas lights! It's a TON of little birds that were all grouped up on some telephone cables one day. It was super strange haha. All the white "lights" are their bellies.

Missionary activity! We watched Meet the Mormons (more people arrived after I took the photo)

An epic rooster picture.

Shiblon, tired after doing some serious pushups.

We went to the hospital! President Meza, the district president, was sick and asked us to go visit him.

A cool little gecko (people say that if one falls in your food, it poisons the food and you'll die. But they're cool and, well, never fall haha)

Playing with Shiblon :-)

Don't cry over spilled milk.

Look, a river! (the rivers are all brown because it's rainy season)

Hello, gulf! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golfo_Dulce,_Costa_Rica

A member in Puerto Jimenez works with a little airplane company to ship people down from San Jose.

Beach!

It looked like Northwest beach to me! It made me feel cold haha but the water definitely isn't cold there.And yeah mom if we come to Costa Rica, we're hittin' up the Zona Sur beaches. Way better than the standard gringo Guanacaste route. No gracias!

A little mud bumblebee home that was on the ground!

A really, really big plant haha. it's like 15-20 feet tall

 

 Hello, porcupine!

Hello, Paso Ancho! Long time, no see!

My adopted nephew here haha

Christian & Javier!

Zone meeting came included with lunch this week! Chicken & fresh tortillas :)

A picture in las fincas (the farms).

Other shot of the fincas (the first one was that line of houses you see in the back).

A bunny sleeping with a dog. whaat!

We were in the jungle here in Rio Bonito!

Jungle shack! Outside of that window, it's a cliff haha.

Sunset.

A paper mache minion!

A pretty normal looking house here in Zona Sur. La Abuela, she always gives us lunch every Thursday :)  (what a blessing these generous people are, to make sure my son is nourished!)

Just gettin to know our area here...

"Can you fish in that river?"

So the river flooded a few weeks back, and all the rocks you see there weren't there before. It was river before! Crazy stuff.

If you look good there, you'll be able to see that the bridge's support is basically gone too, from the flood. (sketch!)

Just getting to know another part of my area! (FYI: All these parts are part of the Ciudad Neily itself, not other places. It's just jungle everywhere!)

Jungle selfie!

Javier drinking some stream water (don't worry Mom I didn't drink it)

He grabbed a moth!

The home where we have the group meeting in the fincas(farms)

So, this week was interesting. My first normal week here in Zona Sur!

     It was pretty good. I had a few experiences which I felt that I could really learn a lesson from.

The first one was actually the last one, but it's the one that impacted me most. Yesterday in the morning, we made pancakes (uush, Sunday morning pancakes). So, to go along with the pancakes, I wanted to make chocolate milk. So I put the water and the evaporated milk in and blended it, and put the milk in, and it was SOO delicious. So put more in, so that there would be enough for everyone. But as I put that all in, I turned the blender around to see the measurements written on there, and the blender unscrewed from the bottom. So when I realize, there's chocolate milk all over the counter. So I think "Oh dear, I gotta get this thing to the sink!" Thinking the rubber sealer had broken. So I lift up the blender and BOOM! All the chocolate milk comes rushing out of the blender, as if a high pressure tube had broken.

I was so disappointed. First off, I got chocolate milk all over my khaki pants and alllll over the kitchen, which was frustrating. But after getting changed and cleaning up, I was just disappointed! I was making this great delicious chocolate milk, and I had already tasted it and it was delicious, and I lost it all! Ugh! and there was no more chocolate, so I couldn't make more.

     It would've been ironic if, in that moment, the phrase "Don't cry over spilled milk" had come to mind.

     Sometimes in life we work so hard to make or do something so great, and it just doesn't work out. Is a blender full of chocolate milk important to my salvation? no. But I took great pride in that delicious chocolate milk! It was something that I was really happy about. That can happen about a lot of things. Maybe we lose in our high school football game, or maybe our homemade fruit canning project goes wrong, or whatever it may be, things just go wrong sometimes. I realized that you just gotta keep going on, and stick a smile on your face. It's ok. It was never in the plan that everything went perfectly in this world.

     So that was a good take-away for me.

So yeah, just a few experiences like that.

     Apart from that, I got to know some more parts of my area today. Pure jungle; super awesome. I was checking out the map and I realized just how small our area is. Like, it's huge, but there's basically not people hahaha.

     So that's the week this week! I hope you all have a good one :) Stay happy and don't cry over spilled milk!

-Elder Henry
     PS Mike & Shavonne oh man! Your new HOUSE! it looks suuper nice.
Things are going well with Elder Morales! And Javier is great!!!
    As for things for Christmas, I don't really need anything... so yeah :/ I know I've always been lame to buy presents for. Just remember, if it's eatable, I'll love it. hahaha (he can purchase things in Panama inexpensively so we're planning to have him do that for himself and the children in his area if you'd like to contribute).