Sunset in Costa Rica!

August 20, 2016

Miracles week!!

Brady Black
OKAY!! My dear Family,  This week was SO WEIRD! Lots of things happened that were unplanned. Let me tell you about it.  To start off the Miracles Week, I get a call from Central Services telling me that I need to get Elder Pineda (A tico missionary that will be going to Utah on his mission) here to San José to pick up his Passport with the Visa. So I had to call him in from a 5 hour bus ride randomly and take him to the post office in San Jose to pick it up. Then we went to the office of Central Services to plan for his trip. At this point they told us that he wouldn´t be leaving until Monday and could go back to his area in the mean time. Elder Pineda had brought his luggage with him because they told us that he would be leaving on Friday! So they spent the night at our mansion.  On Tuesday, we got a call from the AP´s saying that there was a Sister in the hospital that needed a blessing ASAP! So we ran as fast as we could from one end of our area to the center of San Jose to give this Sister a blessing. She had Appendacitis.(I hope that´s how you spell that) so she had to get surgery. We were getting ready to give the blessing and my phone rang. It was a number from out of the country, so I had to take it. I am very glad I took it because it was President Laboriel. This week he was in Guatemala for a mission President´s conference. He asked me where we were. I told him in the Hospital. And then he asked me a question as though to test me. He said, "Elder Black, I have a question, Do you have your Oil with You?" I always walk around with my oil so It was easy to answer. He then said, "Good, Now give that sister a blessing" So I we did. She is better now and today she is working in her area. Yesterday, we were contacting with the other missionaries in the area for 2 hours, and we weren´t having success at all. Finally Elder Frederiksen and I decided to leave the little activity that we were in and go to our area. We started talking about how the Lord prepares people everyday, but we have to find them. We literally have to open our little mouths and find them. We were walking down the road and we saw another man sitting on his stairs outside the house. He looked sad and stressed. My companion and I decided to talk to him. At first, he didn´t want to receive us. His wife was watching some soap opera and didn´t want anything. Then we told them that our message can help the families resolve their problems and become closer to Heavenly Father. The man said, "We are going through some challenges right now, please come in." We sang Jesus Once of Humble Birth and we had a powerful lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Happiness that it brings to those who accept it. We explained that when the people keep the commitments that we give them, they themselves are Repenting. So the Father says to us, "What is the first commitment?" When he said that, a question came into my mind. I said, "When was the last time that you and your family prayed together before bed?" They looked at each other like they had eaten something bad. They said, "Never have we done that before, but Tonight, we will kneel as a family and Pray" They accepted a pamphlet and accepted their commitment to have family prayer that very night.  I know that the Lord prepares his children, I know that there are people WAITING! We hust have to find them. Sorry this is long, but it was a changing experience. I hope that you all have a great week! This next week will be very crazy! I love you all, and thanks for everything!  Con Amor Siempre,  Elder Black Our new investigator!! Hospital, and the edge of our area.

August 13, 2016

Hello there my family!

Wow, it seems as though every time I write, It seems that much closer to October. How crazy is that? It is also really sad. But, I dont want to think about that right now! 

This week we got a very interesting and sad phone call from our investigator named Victor. If you don´t remember him, he is a 20 year old young man that is an Apostal for another church. He loves the book of mormon and wants to come to church, but he has had to take care of his grandma every sunday so he hasn´t been able to come. However, he called us on Tuesday and told us that His Grandma had passed away not even 2 hours before. He told us he wants to meet with us next monday to talk. We thought it was very sad but also a huge turning point in his life which makes him very vulnerable for the Gospel! 

This week I had to take 10 missionaries to get their ID cards done. We had to wait 4 hours in Migration for the people to finally get the paperwork done. It was pretty stressful, but I made it through it without problem. Next week is our Week of Miracles! In the Mission Leadership Counsel, we decided that each day of the week, we would focus on a specific theme to work with. Monday: The Book of Mormon. Tuesday: The Sabbath Day. Wednesday: Baptism. Thursday: Family History/Temple Work. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out.  The APs are going to dress up like a HUGE Book of Mormon and walk around contacting people. It will be intersting!! haha

So, I talked to President this week. He called me in and asked me who I thought would be a good replacement for me. I told him that I have Felt that Elder McCay from California would do my job fine. He said he would take it into account and we will be seeing soon. He then asked me a couple of questions. "How long did you get trained for as a secretary?" I said "One Change" Then he said "HA! I know you can do it in less time than that, you will be training the new secretary 2 WEEKS before you go home!" I thought that was really interesting! I can´t believe the Lord trusts me that much to train only 2 weeks a job so complicated. But, if that´s what the Lord wants, I will do it.

It is almost changes week again and we are recieveing 4 Missionaries from UTAH! Oh ya;) Lots to do, and then it´s my LAST TIME! (Less Stress) I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week! Thank you for everything!!

Love always, 

Elder Negro

Selfies with the best book!

Stud!

August 6, 2016

BBC!!

Elder Andrade that had to go home for his knees