Another Exciting Week

It has been another fun filled week for us, we are kept pretty busy most of the time. Which is important for me especially as I have a tendency to get home sick if I don't have anything to do. Last Saturday we drove down to San Jose to go to the beach. We never did find the hotel where we could rent a room for a few hours. It was SO crowded! Hundreds of people everywhere so we just walked on the beach for a little while then made our way back to the city. You would not believe that town! To start off the streets are very narrow with more motorcycles and scooters than I have ever seen in my life! And to top that off there were about 5-6 semi trucks full of gas mixed in the mess. We couldn't go very far that's why we couldn't get to the hotel. The beach front is lined with tons of small shacks mostly offering food, drink, beach clothing, etc. some houses. You could drive down little alleys where they had signs where you could park your cars. We went down one and this old beach bum started to direct us into a parking spot. He moved a motorcycle out of the way for us! It was at least a 5 point maneuver to get the car parked. He then introduced us to the proprietor of the establishment who showed us where we could change. That was interesting, they opened doors into these little rooms with a small bed. We both looked in and decided they were bug traps! No way was I going in one of them and never sit on the beds! Ohhh willies! 
We walked a few feet to the very wide and beautiful beach that was covered with people and trash... Apparently they don't ( ever) clean the beach nor did I see any trash cans. I thought of the video going around about the trash in the pacific ocean over 2 miles wide and I realized the trash isn't coming from the US as much as it is coming from these 3rd world countries. So sad because it was a huge wide black sand beach. We are going to ask our new friends that lives out there what is the best beaches to visit next time.
It was cool to drive in the country and see all the different areas. It's really beautiful in most areas, again the sad part is the trash on the sides of the road. In the city they clean it up but not in the country. We passed many sugar cane fields. It's cool, they let the fields grow to maturity then cut it before the rainy season. They fill up these huge trucks that takes it to the sugar factories. It is the countries biggest export. The canes will produce for five years then die off. They will then replant the fields for another round. 
The coconuts are also being harvested right now, they have tons of road side fruit stands filled with coconuts, mangos, watermelon. The watermelon is the best ever! Tastes like candy! Oh they also have lots of bananas! It's funny in the stores you will find local pineapples and then some from Hawaii, of course the local ones are to die for. Not sure why they bother to ship in from Hawaii??? It's a mystery.
We drove past a volcano but it hasn't been active for over 300 years, but neat to see.
We had a special experience this week, eith the sisters of our mission during the Sisters Conference. All the sister missionaries from our mission met and had meetings with a catered luncheon. I was asked to talk about living through the hard times of life and returning to out Heavenly Father with honor and enduring to the end. Dad translated for me but I gave my testimony in Spanish! It was hard because I had lots of new words I needed to learn :) several sister missionaries gave their testimonies expressing their love for the Lord and the gospel, and they all spoke about how hard it has been for them to adjust to their new lives here. They made me realize how blessed I am, I can write or call home anytime I want and I can even go home if I need to. One sister hasn't heard from her family in 6 months! Yes I am blessed to have all of you and your prayers, emails, and calls. Thank you we love you all every day!
I think of you all of you always and truly look forward to your emails.

The mission office staff at the president's apartment

A view from our roof. This zone is full of new high-rise apartments.

This coming week we will be involved in Zone Conferences which will take us to several new areas. Attached are some pic we’ve taken during some of our travels.