irritating week

Buenas Mundo.

This week has been one of the most irritating weeks of my life, and i cant think of much else for what im gonna talk about, but ill still finish with that last.

This last Saturday was the relief society general broadcast, we all meet in the chapel and watch it on a projector, but its in Spanish so i really cant follow it. With my Spanish, i can understand words and sometimes sentences, but normally not. My Spanish is getting progressively better, whats best is just the practice of hearing it in context with the lessons, but ill just need time with that. Often people cant understand me, i think im speaking perfect Spanish, but between my american accent, and im translating directly from English some of the times, which the phrases don't exist in Spanish, i often have to repeat myself or have someone else explain what im trying to say. So as far as general conference, i can hear a couple words, but i sort of know what its talking about, but not really. So when priesthood session and the real general conference comes up, i wont be taking notes or anything, because i really wont have any idea what anyone is saying. Its like when i read the scriptures in Spanish, i sort of know what they are talking about and the context, but i cant really exactly understand how they are saying it. so explaining scriptures when people have questions, or knowing whether it is a good scripture or not is hard to know. So ill wait a few months till they release the talks in the Ensigns, and maybe ill be in an area where i can buy one or pick it up form the mission office. 

We have had some record storms here these past few weeks. 2 weeks ago was the record for most rain in one day for Costa Rica, San Jose was a disaster, and here was miserable to. Last week the street outside of our apartment was completely flooded, and we had to cross the street and there was no other way, so we had to cross through 6 inches of water. It doesn't really matter if i waterproof my shoes here or not, they aren't tall enough, Im thinking im going to buy some boots while im here, especially since my feet are soaked and Guanacaste is one of the driest areas in San Jose. Elder Soy bought some boots for 30 bucks, and they are actually pretty nice and keep his feet dry when mine are soaked.

Got a care package from my family, that was crazy nice. Had a backpack in it, a couple household things, and some american food. stuff like zingers, starcrunch, nutter butter bars, and then 2 things of Campbell's chicken noodle, a can of roast beef, and 20 bags of instant oatmeal. I wish they sold instant oatmeal here, we are always starving.

Guanacaste is super poor, everyone is broke, a house is cheap here, because the land is crap, but renting is crazy expensive and supplies are even more expensive because they have to ship everything from San Jose or east coast. because of that, we really just don't have money to buy much food. We have to pay for so much stuff like our rent, cocineras, the lady who washes our clothes, internet, taxis, buses, and what not that we only get like 40 bucks a month to spend on food. and its not cheap to buy stuff. Basically i can have an egg sandwhich for breakfast and a hotdog sandwhich for dinner 3/4 days, and they are no where near enough to fill me up. and thats on the super airy bread to. Our cocinera makes a huge plate of rice and beans and occasionally a nasty piece of Costa Rican cheese with mayo, but rice and beans just don't do your stomach justice. Lots of the missionaries saved crap tons of money to spend during their mission, like 50 to 100 bucks a month personal to spend, so they are fine, but they rest of us just suffer. depends on the areas to, Liberia the missionaries hardly walk, but in San Roque the 3 companionships walk forever. for our cociner its about 30 minutes, church is 30 minutes, and our area is huge, and hot. bleehhhh, ill get use to it eventually, or transfer

as far as that goes i dont have changes this time, or elder soy. out of the 4 in our appartment, only elder parker is leaving, but that's because he had some problem with president. okay, about why i said this week was super irritating. elder soy always wastes time, and that bugs me because i want to work hard, but this week its been on a new level. we have been at members houses for 4 to 5 hours, or because he is the district leader, he really doesn't have any accountability for his daily numbers. he calls everyone else and gets mad at them if they have even a single 0 for their daily numbers (lessons with member, lessons without member, references received, references contacted, new investigators, or members with a recent convert or less active) but with us we always have some 0. this past Sunday, everything was a 0, that was just terrible. Especially during our study blog in the morning, he wont start his personal study until an hour later or so, and after companion study, if we do have it, he just sits and does nothing. we are suppose to leave the house no later than 12 but we always leave at 1 or later.

when elder soy was with elder parker, that was a recipe for wasting time, so maybe its a good thing that he left, hopefully it will jumpstart soy. Last week elder parker and soy called president wilkinson about some sort of problem, and they told me that president was mad, but they didnt elaborate with that. but i think it was this. Even after that call though, the next day we worked hard, but the day after that we fell back into our regular routine.

Its not that im getting bored because we talk to people every day about the same things, its that we never talk to people, or never meet new people. we are suppose to have 20 LPAs a day, which are basically talking to someone and sharing a short principle of the gospel and asking for a reference outside of your normal schedule, but we normally do 0, never more than 5. On that note, i have never knocked on a gate (equivalent of door) and asked to visit and do a lesson with soy my entire 6 weeks. I think 3 to 4 times we have knocked and asked if we can come later, and we actually do, but then we never follow up on them, or do 1 lesson and never return. We have been hiding behind our good numbers with church attendance and baptisms, so its just hard that way.

It doesn't really matter what my opinion is, or what i want to do, 80 percent of the time elder soy will take lead anyways, making it hard for me to ever speak up. i guess ya part of our slackerness is my problem to, i can push harder and stand my ground more, but its hard to have that mental strive. Im an introvert and so with times like this, i need help with someone pushing me out of my bubble, but soy never pushes me, so i guess ill just learn that once im with someone else or a trainer and have to teach my self.

Soy is still a really good missionary, but he is also a really hardcore slacker. He gets the numbers, its just the way that he does it is definitely not how preach my gospel, the handbook, or how president would like. The past 5 days have been super hard emotionally, and today has been a little bit better, ive been able to numb a lot of those emotions, but ya im staying with soy for the next 6 weeks, so we will see how things change or turn out. 

Ya thats been this week, and pretty much this last transfer, so ill be praying for this next transfer with soy. He will be my only trainer, so ill have to teach my self the other essentials by my self or by being with another companion in the future. 

Cant really think of anything else, ill call that good for the week.

Elder Campbell

There's only 2 things i want to get while I'm here at Costa Rica to take home. the scripture cases, and jerseys. these are some that i've gotten while i'm here

extra notes to family

 None of the youth here ever go to the temple, ya i guess its different for the people here in guanacaste, because its a 4 hour drive to the temple and costs 16 dollars round trip, but no one ever ever goes here. And because of that, no one gets their endowments here either, its rare, but there are plenty of people who have been members for years and havent got it yet because they cant afford it. I can see now how amazing it is in utah for groups of youth to go to the temple to do baptismal work, especially those that go every week

 talk  about food,  man are we just starving, even anything to eat would be great, 

Okay about that package. I received the package last wednesday, and surprisingly, everything was still in it and it wasnt even opened. So either the pictures idea really does work, or i just lucked out, either way i was super greatful i got everything. The junk food was amazing, but that goes down quick, and seeing as im always hungry i eat more of them then i should, and am still hungry, and after eating, okay ill just tell the story. Last night i ate my breakfast. a peice of toast and 3 packets of that oatmeal, everything else is gone, and after that i thought ill have one star crunch, that will tidy me over. after that, naahh maybe i just need one more starcrunch and il lbe full. 4 starcrunches in total i realized, these are never gonna fill me the rest of the way, crap, i just wasted 4 starcrunches. the roast beef thing was great, mac and cheeses are gone, and chicken noodle soups are gone. super nice to have american food though. Those oatmeal things are my favorite though, too bad they dont sell them here. They sell oatmeal with no flavour or sugar or nothing, quite disgusting, but even if i add cinamon or brown sugar or vanilla, its no where near the same, those packets are heavenly, thank you!

Im using the towels daily, thanks, and the sheets ill save till im in the east or south coast, thats the worst for bugs. you were right though. i finally have the Costa Rican smell or something, because i don't get nearly as many bug bites, although i still get crap times every day on my arms, and they still swell big, well, nothing i can do about that. Backpack is super super super useful, more space then my satchel. Its half water proof, half not, so it gets most the water out, but still a decent amount gets in, enough to fill a little layer in the bottom of my backpack so i have to plastic bag everything. the first time my scriptures got waterlogged on the bottom, oops. Sunday the bag started tearing on one of the seams thats holding the foam lining, ha. Well, it was cheapish quality, but beggars cant be choosers. ill wear that thing to the ground though, maybe Christmas time if im in San Jose they might sell some decent bags that are overpriced, don't know though, that's just the hope. super thankful for that.