December 10, 2012 - My first transfer! Super sad!We thought it would be my companion - but nope - it was me. My companion is a trainer again in our area with a Gringa. It was sad to say good-bye to all the people we were teaching and the members. I will miss the baptism of one of our investigators whom I became very close to and loved teaching. I have been transferred to a place called Rio Claro - 1 hour north of Panama and 23 minutes from the "beach" in Golfito. It is such a change from San Jose. It is more rural here and small. The homes are nicer and more spread out. It took me 8 hours on a bus to get here - about 360 miles from San Jose. It is extremely hot here! I sweat all the time. Dripping sweat. I only wear mascara on my eyes - no other make-up. I feel gross all the time. : ). I think that I might be transferred again soon. I have eczema and have red spots all over my hands, stomach and legs. I itch like crazy. I have tried creams, medicines and take 2 cold showers a day. If it doesn't clear up - they will probably send me back north - more mountainous areas. Less hot. They may transfer me anyway - because my companion may be training a new sister - we have a lot of new missionaries coming in January because of the missionary age change. More sister missionaries coming out! Yeah. They are also opening up 3 new areas in the mission. I do love the area and my companion is from Columbia, South America and does not speak any English. There were 23 members who came to church on Sunday. Six women were in Relief Society. I was asked to give a talk and was able to speak for 15 minutes - all in Spanish - and I did it. I spoke on love and not getting offended easily. It is interesting how Heavenly Father has helped me be able to speak in Spanish and I really feel the Spirit helping me. I hope the people know how much Heavenly Father loves them. It is so cool. We are working with a lot of inactive members - there are over 300 inactive members in the area. There is a lot of work to be done. Our mission president asked me if I played the piano and I told him that I did. He said that the branch president really wants me to teach some of his members how to play the piano so they can make it a calling for a member - so I have been teaching piano and also teaching some English to members who are interested. It is such a humbling experience. The food here has been better for me to eat. My cook knows that I had some problems with gastritis - too many fried foods - and spicy - so I eat mostly cereal for breakfast and rice and occasionally meat during lunch and lots of fruit and vegetables. They eat their main meal at lunch. There are parrots galore, dogs, cats, pigs - oh and crocodiles. No big deal. When it rains, there are a ton of crocodiles in the area. Kimi would be so grossed out here! We see spiders all the time. They don't even phase me anymore. It's the cockroaches that get me. They are HUGE! no joke, they are the size of a tarantula, seriously. Sometimes I think, am I really here! People eat bugs, animals and crazy things. They kill a pig and drink the blood - because they like the taste. And...I just heard a Bob Marly song and thought of Landon. haha.
Oh, I cut my hair even shorter - don't really like it - but I was so hot - I had to get the hair off my shoulders.
It will grow back -
Christmas is coming - seems a bit strange now - I am in beautiful Costa Rica - no snow - lots of sun - beautiful palm trees and flowers - and HEAT....nooooooo Snow!!!!!!! Very different Christmas - but all good! Love you all. Hermana Jennifer Jones
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