5th week update

Hello all my family and friends,

Well, an you believe another week has come and gone already, I cannot! This first change has gone by slow, but fast at the same time. Today was an irregular pday, no surprise to me though, because I have only had 1 regular pday this entire change. My comp and I had to wake up at 5 this morning in order to travel to the Mission office so that me and some other missionaries could go to the US embassy of CR and sign some papers for our residency. So, needless to say, it´s been a long day, that we spent in the middle of busy San Jose. This week was crazy, a long with the rest, and just like I always tell Elder Montierth, I am never ceased to be amazed here, either I see something I have never seen before and it´s totally crazy, or I am amazed because of the love I can feel from Heaven. Both of these things happen quite frequently, if not every single day. We had divisions this week, everyday except yesterday. It was crazy! One day I am working in Tibás, where I am Sr. Comp, have to make appointments, talk to people, and call the shots, lets just say I was nervous, but it all worked out well, and then the next day I am working in the Leon 13 with Elder Montierth, and then we switch it up again. But I learned a lot this week, who knew that there was so much to be learned. Nevertheless, I am always learning here, whether it be something new I learn in Spanish, the gospel, myself, the mission, the world, all of it, I am learning new stuff.

On my first Sunday here, my Comp, the Bishop of our ward and I traveled around our area in order to get familiar with the place, we ran across a man my age, his name is Elvis, I may have mentioned him before, but at first glance when he answered the door, I´ll be honest, all of us thought this was going to be another rejection, but we were pleasantly surprised to see him let us into his house with open arms, we, along with the bishop, shared a small message with him, his sister Tania, and his mother Carolina. We met with them a lot throughout the coming weeks here, but we could never usually meet with Elvis, but we continued to teach Tania and Carolina, after the first lesson, we invited them to be baptized...Carolina replied saying that she didnt want to, that her brother was a pastor of another church and she wasnt interested. We continued to set appointments with them, and everytime we showed up, they would ignore us, or turn off the lights and tv when they saw us coming. So, we thought there was no more we could do, and we stopped visiting them. But this week, as Elder Nuñez and I visited a family of the boy who I baptized this week, (who are next door neighbors with Elvis) the mother, Edith told us that her neighbor Elvis and his family was interested in the Church. We were taken aback because they stopped showing interest, but we set a time to stop by them and see what the deal was. On divisions one day, Elder Montierth and my comp Bertrand visited them, and Elvis was there, they taught him the first lesson, and set a baptismal date for Feb 5, he also said he wanted to go to church and maybe even serve a mission. Elvis came to church on Sunday and he absolutely loved it, and seems firm in his decision to get baptized on this date. This experience was really cool to see how it progressed, and I learned alot from this experience. I learned that the Lord has His own time table, as I´m sure we all know, He works His ways, on His time, and we have to be patient in long suffering, like it constantly says in the scriptures, until his works come to pass. They will always come to pass, and the Lord always fulfills his promises. This decision showed me that God really does prepare people to hear this message, He works, in HIs time, a small change in their hearts, and allows it to swell inside them, until they are ready to receive the Lord´s messengers.

How grateful I am to be a messenger of the Lord. Even though I cannot speak or understand all of the language yet, the spirit translates for me, and the spirit is fluent in all languages, and he can find me, even in a small tiny shack in Costa Rica. I´ll be honest family, everyday here is uphill, Its not easy, and there are times where I really question if I have it in me, but what reassures my doubt is my friends and family back at home. I thank all of you with all that I am for your love and your support. I can truly feel it, as if you were all here with me cheering me on in the sidelines.

Yesterday was an example of this, at 630 on the dot as we woke up for the morning, the phone rang, it was one of the members of the ward, my good friend Carlos Vargus. He informed my comp and I that we would be talking in Sacrament meeting, at first, my stomach sunk, and then, it ended up in my throat, and I got so sick and nervous, I sat in my bed and I questioned, how I was going to do this, I barely speak spanish. I love to give talks, and I love to express myself, but how will I ever do this in Spanish. I jumped out of bed and frantically wrote a talk on Missionary Work (how convenient huh?) I didnt have much more time to dwell on my fears because we had to go and get Elvis and Tania ready for church, we ran there and headed to the chapel and before I knew it I was at the pulpit, with 75 people, all fluent in spanish, staring at me. And I was expected to speak in front of them. I worried, and worried and worried that I would make a mistake, but I had a feeling in my heart, testify to me, that if I trusted in God and had faith, yeah I might make a mistake, but the spirit would translate, and the spirit is 100% fluent in Spanish. I spoke, made a few mistakes, but left the situation feeling totally spiritually refreshed, and lots of people came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my words.

Family, friends, and everyone I love so very much, I learn something new each and everyday here, and I am always so excited to share them with you, because I see the way that my life is blessed, and I want the same for my beautiful family and friends. I know that if we live worthily, we can have the blessing of the Holy Ghost with us always! And in moments like these, we have to trust in our actions, thoughts, and our God, to know that if we did our part, HE WILL DO HIS! He will do His part family, I know it. Because without His part, frankly, we´re nothing. I recall one of my favorite scriptures that says for with God nothing shall be impossible. How true that statement is. Often times, I wake up and see the day ahead of me as a HUGE mountain, and I question how I am ever going to climb this, I turn to Luke 1 and read that scripture, and immediately am brought back to square one. And at the end of the day, without fail, when I reflect on what we accomplished, the words of one of my favorite songs comes to my head, ¨sometimes that mountain you´ve been climbing, is just a grain of sand, what you´ve been out there searching for forever, is in your hands, and when you figure out Love is all that matters after all, it sure makes everything else, seem so small¨ Those few words have saved me here. As well as my love and faith in God. I pray everyday family that we can all have more faith, more hope and more love in our lives, because God is anxiously waiting to bless each and everyone of us, to make our lives a little more easy, to lift our burdens just a little more, to make ends meet one time, to put those feelings of joy and happiness in my heart, he´s just waiting for us to do our part. I pray that we can all do our part.

Well everybody, a big thank you again! From the bottom of my heart! I am so blessed to have you all in my life! I draw upon your strength daily! Remember that I love you, each of you. Remember that I know that what I am doing here is divine, its a call from a Prophet, its the work of the Lord. I know its true, I know without a shadow of a doubt that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Kingdom of God once again on the earth, restored by a prophet, Joseph Smith, I know we have a prophet today Thomas S. Monson, I know that if we heed the words of our living Prophet and apostles and follow the words of Christ, that uphill climb will get a little bit easier, I know it. I know that God hears our prayers, and he answers them in His own time, we just have to be patient. I love you family, so much! Keep the faith and lose the fear! With all the love I could possibly give,
Elder Falor