Elder Zach Hilton June 18 2019-2021: Week 7: The first week in Costa Rica!!!

So much has happened this week, there is noooo way I can tell it all. The first day by itself felt like a whole month! So I'll try to write what I can!
Tuesday
I met my new companion today!!!! He is a hard worker who doesn't know any English, but he´s trying to learn, so we try to help each other as much as we can with our languages. I'm glad that he is so patient because sometimes I feel like a little kid following my dad everywhere because I don´t know what or where or who anything is. Anyways, today we did contacts for tons and tons houses for miles and my feet were dead like less than halfway through. I thought that there was lots of walking in the MTC but noooooooo. It was kinda funny because I didn't know we were doing contacts until the third house . I was thinking ´´Again? oh wait... this is what missionaries do! We´re proselyting!´´ I'm sure Elder Barahona (that's my companion) told me what we were doing but I probably didn't understand.
After our dinner appointment, we needed to give a blessing, and thankfully Elder B said he could do it, but ask he went to do it, he realized he left his oil at home. He asked me tiene su aceite and without thinking I responded 'si!' and then realized what I said yes to. So, not knowing if I even brought oil, I walked over to my backpack and reached in and miraculously the first thing I touched was the vial of oil. So we were able to give the blessing!!!
Wednesday
TONS of walking again today. Very similar to yesterday, but today we had a district meeting at the church building today. It's always fun to be with more missionaries. Afterwards we have like 30 min of spare time so we played a game called Cuantas pecas? where you say a spanish tongue twister as fast as you can and if you mess up you get a peca on your face (a dot with the whiteboard marker) I had like a thousand by the end, hahaha
Thursday
Today we had to take a bus to get to the area we were teaching in and it was up in the hills and super pretty! It's kinda crazy how steep the roads were here, we seriously had to stop and breathe every 30 or 40 feet cuz its soooo steep. Oh yeah and Elder Barahona is like a whole foot shorter than me but somehow he can still outwalk me with his tiny legs. He has the missionary walk down, haha! Every day I get a little frustrated with not being able to understand anything and not knowing what to say when people ask me basic questions. So I've been carrying a little dictionary around and writing down words I hear a lot.
Friday
Pretty much the exact same as yesterday. We saw a few rats in the gutters. It was dark and we were walking home, and a rat moved in the gutter and scared us and Elder Barahona yelled out ´´AAAH SEXY RAT!!¨ (obviously he meant scary) I couldn't stop laughing the rest of the way home.
Saturday
Today our goal was 10 contacts and we only had 1 by dinner and when our lesson with Jose was canceled we were going to go back to our house. But, I felt like we needed to do more, so I asked if we could do more contacts even though it was getting dark. We did and guess what?? We got nine more almost all in a row! So we made our goal and I was able to sleep better.
Sunday
We went to a ward council meeting and that was scary because it sounded like serious stuff was happening and I didn't know what. It's always embarrassing when people ask you a long and detailed question and all I can think to do in the moment is to look around turning red and say no entiendo. Anyways today was fast and testimony meeting and I forgot that it's a tradition that new missionaries always give their testimonies. So it was quite the surprise when right after the sacrament they called me up to start us off. I don't remember what I said, but I hope it made sense. Later today Elder B got a bad stomach ache and I could tell it was really bad. When we walked home he was quiet the whole time when normally hes giggling and making noises/babbling nonsensical english trying to learn it. Poor guy. At the casa I gave him a blessing (in english) using the most basic words I could so that maybe he could understand.
Today!
His stomach is better! today we took two busses to go to San Jose to get our fingerprints done and that took like the whole morning. Then, we bussed all the way back and played ping pong!!!! We found a soccerball and pumped it up tighter and played basketball with it. He doesn't know how to play basketball at all, and when he shoots he just uses one hand with the other arm down at his side. It's actually super funny and whats crazy is that he BEAT ME at horse!!!!!! every time he made it he would get all excited, it was so funny. eventually our basketball deteriorated into seeing who could kick the ball farther and that ended when Elder B accidentally kicked it sideways and got the ball stuck on the church roof... And now I'm typing this! Spiritual thought of the day:

When we are on the Lord’s errand,” President Thomas S. Monson promised, “we are entitled to the Lord’s help” We are not entitled, however, to a smooth road and an 'endless stream of successes'. So as long as we work hard and expect challenges along the way we will be alright. I encourage all of you to do what you can to be on the Lord's errand whenever possible and I know you will be blessed for it.
Have a good week everyone!! Love you all!