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Cole's dinner

Cole's dinner
Hunting in Costa Rica

Monday, September 12, 2011





September 12th 2011

What up family! How is everyone?
 Im doing great and loving my new area!! Its way siiickkk!! I love my comp and all the members to they are all awesome! This week has been way good and productive too!
  So its way different here than my last area.. theres giant grasshoppers and beetles and all sorts of birds and stuff. Literally at night every house cieling has about 10 geckos just chillin up next to the lights trying to eat all the bugs flying. We saw a monkey the other day in the back yard of a members house, that was way cool and also at night you can barely hear when your walking because all the frogs are croaking and stuff. haha This week is a special week in Costa Rica.. its there independence day the 14th of this month say theyve had like festivals and stuff all week. Theres a huge festival right out side this little town and it has a Huge rodeo with tons of stuff. I want to go so bad!!! But we cant cuz its not considered part of our area!!
  We have found a ton of families here that we are teaching so im way excited. Yesterday we found 2 new families that are sooo awesome and i definately think their getting babtised. One of the families has listened to the missionaries but when the missionaries left they didnt have any way to contact the new missionaries, so its good we found them! Theyre a family of 5, and the other family has 2 kids and the parents.
  Today is gonna be sick!! one of the members own a big banana farm, so today he invited us to come over for lunch and also to go hunting for iguanas!! :) im excited, he says theres a couple that just chill back there and then were gonna eat them! He says he cooks them with his special recipe so well see how it tastes. And he has a bunch of wild turkeys that just chill back there but i dont think we can hunt those. He has tons of different fruit trees that he just lets us go back there and pick whatever and eat it!
 Our cook is cool, shes older but cooks really good and always gives us a ton of food! She washes our clothes also. I havent got the package yet.. it wasnt there when we got to change meeting, so i dont know whats up with it! Yeah i watched the videos you guys made, but i couldn't hear anything for some reason :( ill try it again today.
 Ugh you better get up hunting this week dad!! You dont realize how lucky you are just to be able to go hunting, i think i have a dream every night of me up in the mountains killin somethin. haha Where are you guys gonna go if you head up this week? Have you been to East Canyon at all this season?How are the Cowboys doing?? i pray for them everynight. What did you say in your talk mom? I bet you did awesome! Its so hard writing everyone.. i swear i never have time, i pretty much can only write you guys so tell everyone else im sorry it takes so long to write back but ill get to them soon. I feel bad when i dont have time to write but its hard cuz we only have an hour.
 Yesterday we ate soo much, it was awesome!! We ate about 5 times, and for dinner we had this huge plate of stuff cuz it was this members birthday and they invited us over for dinner. Im eating a lot more in this area which is great!!
Im having a great time in my new area and everyone is amazed how well i speak spanish, every appointment we have their like "youve only been here 6 months?!" i like it.. it makes me feel good! I cant wait to use spanish when i get home!!
 Well i love you guys and cant wait to hear from you next week dad and MOM( cuz you didnt write me this week)!
Love you guys a ton! Pura Vida!
 Elder Christensen















Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Sept 5th 2011

Hola familia,
 How is everyone? i hope all good!! Ugh its soo much hotter here.. like twice as hot!! haha
You guys can look on google earth, and see the town that im in. Im in the county of Guapiles, in Boca Guapiles, Its by the Parque Nacional Tortuguero on the upper right corner of Costa Rica more or less. And im loving this area a ton!! Its all country!! The members are awesome and help out with the mision work a ton! They always want to have activities as a branch and help teach and visit less actives and new investegators... they are awesome! Our house is was cool, we have two coconut trees, and a papaya tree in our yard. We always have two pets cats that are actually the next door neighbors but they always come in and chill with us in the mornings and at night. haha they are way tite... the only cats ive ever liked besides Bucks cat. There are a TON off eagles here that just circle the town. We live very close to a gian bamboo forest and i wanna go hikin next pday there. There are so many fruit trees.. i think actually ever tree here has some kind of fruit on it haha. On Friday we went to a recent converts house and helped her build a dirt path in her front yard and then after we helped her pick guabas, oranges, and mamones chinos in her farm. It was awesome cuz we had to clime the trees and they were way tall to be able to harvest the fruit. After we chilled in her front yard eating all the fruit that we had picked right off the tree.. sooo delicious. The oranges here are soo different.. they are green and yellow not orange! haha and they eat them so weird here its cool. Ive seen some iquanas and some parrots and stuff.. here is more my style. And ive taken tons of pics and i tried to send them today but for some reason they didnt work so i will send them next monday.
  We havent really been teaching a lot of new investigators.. these past days weve been visiting all the members, less acvtives and what not. And im excited to work with them!! Saturday we had an activity with the whole branch, to celebrate pioneer day. It was awesome.. everyone dressed up like pioneers and we had games and the primary sang, and the young men and women did like a country dance. it was tite. We have a ton of young mens in our branch so its way fun.. they always wanna play soccer or something. Also the presidency is way tite, the second counselor is huge, and he looks like hes tongan.. he eats like a tongan, he talks like a tongan and jokes like one too. its so funny and all his kids are big boned and giant haha Today for pday we play soccer with all the young mens at the church. It was way fun but SOOO hot i was dying!! The members give us a lot more food here than my last area, ive been stuffed all day everyday since ive got here :) All the people here a sooo much nicer and more friendly... everyone that passes you says hi and asks how your doing! I love it! Its just like a diffent world out here. haha Also one time we were at a members house vistiting and this guy named Chona came to the door, hes like famous in this town. He use to own a huge ranch and had a ton of money!! But one day he was robbed and assulted and shot in the head.. he didnt die tho! But he has a huge gash in his head and is now like mentally challenged. But everyone loves him and hes always walking aroung with his cowboy hat and singing for people. So when he got there we asked him to dance and sing. So he did and we were all laughing our heads off! I have a video of it so ill send it next time. And also at the same time as this happened, there was a transvestite named Jennifer that came to the door. It was sooo weird, She is really ugly and is actually really a guy!! haha and So she was telling Chona to dance and stuff and talking sooo gay.. it was so funny!! shes in the video also haha.
    Well im glad everyones ok... i dont have any time left to write :( So i will talk to you next monday!! Love you guys a ton!!!
Elder Christensen

aug 23rd 2011

What up family.....
 
  So i saw the video of you guys jeeping.... there wasnt any sound.. but i could just imagine bucks screaming in the background.. haha thats awesome!! I cant believe you went to elk camp without me.... wow what a great dad... :( haha just kidding... you better go hunting a ton so when i get back youll have all the sweet spots to go. So its tuesday today.. we didnt have time to write yesterday so were doing it today. How was the trip? mom told me you didnt get anything but i wanna know ALL the details... what you guys slept in, where you went, what you saw, who all went, if you got close to anything.... EVERYTHING!!! And where did you go fishing on the pontoon boats? Gosh you need to tell me everything! And when are you going out again? when do your other tags seasons start and everything? And you really better not have used my broadheads or my arrows or ANYTHING of mine!! i will be so mad if you did! haha
   Thats crazy about maddi!! shes really starting on the varsity team?? Shes actually good?? thats crazy!! does she do much during the game? like does she get the ball much? whens her next game? gosh majerle is so lazy!! what is she gonna do all day? haha And thats good about jake!! did he end up going to jail or what? he wrote me like a week ago! I miss nana and papa so much!! and everyone! Do you guys chill wit papa and nana a lot?
  So im still reading the Exploring the Lands of the BOM... its sooo awesome!! Its 900 pages long and im about half way through. It has so much proof of the book of mormon that its crazy.. you guys have to read it cuz i want you guys to see how cool it is!!!! My favorite part of it is how it takes all the geographical dirrections and stuff from the book of mormon and puts them on the map of mesoamerica and they all fit so perfectly!! Obviously jose smith would not had been able to guess all that stuff.. some people are so stupid! haha
  Just you and maddi at the house mom? i bet thats weird! does maddi chill wit he soccer friends or does she stay wit you a lot? Hows work mom? seen anymore coyotes up there lately? Thats so funny about Nash with his favorite colors... hes crazy!
 So we changed the sister that cooks for us... our new ones name is sister Luz. And shes way awesome.. she also has a way hot daughter thats 18... but its ok cuz shes going on a mission. haha Luz cooks us the best food and gives us so much!! Im loving eating there!! after every meal she gives us desert which is usually tres leches, which is a cake that is the most amazing cake ever!! its the official desert of Costa Rica. Yesterday she made us these tacos that were soo good!!  And we went to this place called "the cave" in the center of San Jose. And its a giant pawn shop... i think practically everything there is stolen but it has some really good prices... haha for example elder clark baught an ipod there for 80 thousand colones(160 dollars) which usually costs 300 dollars anywhere else. Theres tons of iphones for dirt cheap and all sorts of stuff... so right before i come home im gonna go there and buy a ton of stuff and sell it when i get back :) But that place is so crazy.. theres so many people there and im positive that everything is stolen haha Also theres a place in san jose called "gringo alley".... its a giant street of little stands that people are there selling cool lil stuff from costa rica. Like wood carvings, leather carvings, knifes, cool bags and purses, tshirts, and all sorts of seouvenirs. its such a cool place!!
 So weve been working hard and stuff and teaching and what not. but theres not really anyone progressing. We still are teaching Blanca and her grandson and they are getting babtised this next saturday at 11 in the morning. Also were teaching this family that lives right in front of us. Its the guy who is 35 years old, and the wife who is 19 years old... haha and they have a lil new born baby. They are way cool but way busy so we dont get to teach them much :( The guys has read the book of mormon and believes it and stuff but we need to work with him more to strengthen his testimony. But im excited about them.. i think they will progress and everything!! So change meeting are on the 31st of august, and we find out if one of us has changes on the 29th :) im prayin! haha Last sunday was awesome cuz our asistance of the church went from around 80 people to 98 people. There was a ton of people in the chapel.
 Well i love you guys a ton!! and cant wait to hear back! And dad you better tell me ALL the details of the hunt!! Love you Mom, love you Dad and you too sisters!!
Elder Christensen

aug 15th 2011

Familia,
 
   Hows everyone doin? im so tired today... went had a multizone activity and we went to central park in san jose and played football, soccer and stuff.. it was way fun buy im so tired! 5 out of the 9 zones came, so there was a lot of elders and sisters. I was ballin it up in soccer once again... i scored like 5 goals.. and some of these elders play for national soccer teams. Theres like 5 Elders that play for the national team of Honduras, El Salvador and i think theres one from Guatemala. And i showed them a lil somethin.. haha
  Thats crazy girls camp is already over madre.. but good now you wont be so stressed and naggy all the time ;) Majerle and Maddi didnt go tho?? what slackers!!
  Thats awesome that maddi made the soccer team!! is there team good tho? haha is majerle still just lazy or what? Theres a girl in our ward here that reminds me of majerle, always sleeping and her personality reminds me of her a ton too! Theres a lot of people here that remind me of family members! Oh and does she drive my car or what?
  Thats good that work is so good!! Chase is working for you right? How are the hansens anyway? When does braden have his baby again? thats soooo crazy!!! i bet hes excited about both the baby and football. I did kinda miss football today when i was playing it.. but not that much haha
  So we have two babtisms this saturday so im excited but other than that we dont really have much :( In two days we contacted 11 familys and put appointments with them and everything to teach them. It was like a record for the mission of family contacts i think! haha so i hope they dont bail out... but well see!!! This lady that is getting babtised saturday day is like 50 years old and also her grandson that is 12 years old is getting babtised. The son of the lady was the bishop of our ward here in garabito like 10 years ago and he went on a mission and everything.. but she is NOT a member.. crazy huh!! But we started teaching her and everything and she wants to get babtised! She is way cool and same with the grandson. But i still want a family of 5 to babtise... i love teaching families so much!! when we have family investigators it is a lot more fun!!
  OOhhh thats good there was a fire by Jeffs house :) because fires are so good for deer and elk.. so by the time i get back that area will be infested with deer!! :) by the way... im sooo jealous you are going to Elk camp this week... wow thats crazy!! So this thursday you are going to Scofield then? or where? And how long are you guys going for? You better tag out dad! You can use both the tags in the same area then? Hows the bow feeling.. are you gonna be able to hit one under the pressure? What are you guys gonna sleep in? Who all is going.. Tyler, you, buck, brandon? Have you lifted your truck yet??! What kind of arrows are you gonna use this year? and whats your guys game plan to hunt? are you gonna take the fourwheelers?... i want to know ALL the details!!!
  Ive lost a lil wait.. when i left the MTC i was like 195 and now im like 185 i think. But i also have a lil gut.. i think from all the rice and beans.. everybody has a gut here! haha its funny! We can go to the gym right by our house if we want but im too lazy to wake up at 5 in the morning in order to go. But like 3 months before i come home im gonna hit the gym like crazy :)
 You took buck jeeping? haha how did he like it? were the rocks even big tho? I bet he was crying ether way!! So i get my leather cases for my scriptures finally tomorrow... it took forever but they are gonna be so sick. The case for my book of mormon has the picture of christ coming to the americas in front with the mayan temple and on the back is the picture of Samuel the lamanite on the wall with all the arrows being shot at him. Im way excited!! I havent taken many more pictures.. i need to start again taking more!
  Well i love you guys and good luck this weekend dad.. better get something and send me all the pics!! :)
Love
  Elder Christensen

aug 8th 2011

Hola mi familia!
 
    I want to right you in all spanish buy it takes to long for you guys to translate it! haha
how are you guys?? im doing good! It doesnt rain as much right now which is good and bad... good cuz im not soaking wet all day, and back because its twice as hot now so im soaking wet but with sweat! haha
 Thats awesome girlscamp is this week mom! i bet your excited!! youve always been ment for that calling to be with the young women!! I wish i was there to help too.. haha
 Dang i miss the family reunions a lot!! How was it? was mostly everyone there? were the hansens there? Thats crazy that erica is the head coach!!! Ahhh i miss the cutrer boys!! haha are they playing for Alta then? I wish i was there to go watch them! And that sucks about Jeremy :( i will definately pray for him!!
  Tryouts for maddi already? i hope she made it!! when does she find out?? And is majerle doin dance or what? Yeah i write joe and lisa all the time!! i miss them!! Yeah im getting kind of sick of this area.. its just cuz i feel like ived talked to everyone here and right now we dont have as much investigators! So yeah i would like to have changes the next time. Hopefully! Some days i really almost hit my comp in the face haha its so tempting! but im trying to get a long with him.. hes just so different!!
 The highlight of my week?.. When i went on divisions with two other elders last tuesday and wasnt with elder cerrato hahaha We worked in the area of them for a day and had some great lessons with cool families and then that night we played Risk.. it was way fun!:)
  Yes all the people that i have babtised are still progressing and keeping there covenants with the lord and everything! Richard, Reina, Allan, and Ramsés, the family that i babtised, are doing great!! They went to the temple to do babtisms for the dead 2 weeks ago and go to church without fail :)
 Thats awesome that work is doing so well dad.. and yes tell me everything.. i like it! I hope the work keeps coming and i hope by the time i get home you have built the biz of so much that we can go hunting every weekend :) Keep working hard.. haha
  AHHHhh thats so sick you have 4 tags!! im so jealous!! i have a dream of hunting like every night haha Its hard not to think about it!! i try to focus totally in the work but there are times where i just day dream of flingin an arrow at a big bull elk or somethin!! I cant wait to get back and buy the newest hoyt carbon... not PSE! haha Oh yeah dont go to Humphreys... go to Jakes archery... that is way better!! The scofield trip will be so awesome!! what days are you guys going?
  Yeah you better get that book when you get back!! Its sooo awesome!! Make sure you read it!! On Pdays we mostly just sleep, which is awesome cuz i dont have a lot of energy... Ever!! I think next week were doing a zone activity.. going to a waterfall in one of the areas in our zone.. so that will be way cool! ill send the picks! :)
 Theres this one family of members in my ward that are having marraige problems and its way sad. This guy, Jóse, is like the coolest guy ever... hes like 30 years old and use to be a big drug dealer in the Leon Trece, but 3 years ago he got taught by the missionaries and was babtised and then got married to this lady a year later and she had to kids before and then all of them got babtised! his conversion story is awesome! But the past couple weeks theyve been having problems and like 5 days ago the wife left him and took her two kids.
Hes been way sad and weve been teaching him a lot. But yesterday we were sitting in sacrament meeting and it had started and all the sudden we see all four of them walk into the chapel together... it was awesome!! :) so hopefully they can work everything out.. they still havent gone to the temple and gotten sealed yet so they need to put that as a goal!! Jóse is the guy that posted a picture of him and i on facebook... have you guys seen it?
  I cant wait to come home and be able to talk to all the mexicans and stuff. And be able to order food at mcdonalds without the order being wrong! ;) I cant wait to come home to my family.. i get home sick a ton but i know this is where im suppose to be. But love you guys!! have a good week!
  ¡¡Pura Vida!!
Love
   Elder Christensen