Guys, santa is so cool🎅

So like, please forgive me for my crazy thoughts because I think I'm literally like, living in a fever dream right now. I'm sick and I'm like in a different world, it's kinda fire. But for real, I was thinking about this. How crazy are all these random traditions and things that we have. Like santa. Such a chad, He takes the birth of Christ and goes. bruh, I'm boutta light up this holiday like nobody's business, I love Jesus. So dope.

Here in Costa Rica, it was like 90 degrees christmas day. We got to church and I just stood in the door of the chapel in the heat and I was like, huh, feels like home, weird man. But there's just somethin about Christmas that is just so epic. Like I was sick like A LOT for the last week, but idk it was still pretty dope.

It was really awesome to just sit back and ponder like how amazing it is that we have someone who paid the price for all of us. Sometimes we get lost in little different things that will always occupy our life, and it's nice to just enjoy the fact that this life is just good. A time to learn, a time to have joy. That's God's purpose, to help us to do that, and Christmas is the celebration of the one Son who fulfilled that purpose. That really is good tidings of great joy.

Ayo happy christmas

Elder Kyle McOmber

I am speed🦥

So I don't know if y'all have ever seen zootopia,but we saw some sloths this week and I can think of when I saw them is that sloth driving at the end of that movie. So epic. Btw I have a better sloth photo but I can only really send it next week So yeah.

This week, literally just like... What. It was a lot of tough stuff and a lot of good learning. And a lot of eating. Um there's a good chance I will be 300 pounds or somethin after the mission so like. My b on the word of wisdom. But these people are a roller coaster ride. I love em, but they make me laugh and cry sometimes. Someday I'll get this, but for now, I've got no idea what's goin on.

There's a couple buddies of mine who are struggling, so I'm sorry for complaining too lol. But here's what I know with all that we've been through. God exists. He is there. He loves YOU. I don't fully understand why, but we have to go through the refiners fire sometimes. And while you are, know that I'm cheering for you. I love ya!

Your boy,

Elder McDonalds

(As the members call me)

Christmas dinner

Grinch

Mickey D's

Your boy Santa at the beach

You're welcome🦥

Almost home

No I'm not trunky. Wellll. That's a conversation for another time lol. However here's the thing, when I was home, if I felt lost, all I really did was go back home and I dunno, re-adjust I guess is the right word. And I don't know if I just haven't realized this until now, many months into the mission, maybe I'm not the speediest learner. But I can't do that here😆. It's way to far lol. Although I bet my mom would appreciate it.

However, with the little time I do have here, I've still found my times of rest, of 'home', in the four different areas of like spiritual, intelectual, social, and physically. My anchors and my drive have been given by the realization of what gave me rest and refocus in those areas. So if you feel lost. Take a minute to rest. Take a nap. Get counsel with those you love and trust. Go to church. Read your scriptures. Pray. Most of all, turn to God. Even He rested on the seventh day.🙂

Jesus loves you

Elder Kyle McOmber

awesome new member of God's kingdom

How could we think it would be easy for us when it was never ever easy for Him?

Um yeah,

Honestly this week kinda sucked. I felt lost a lot and just unsure of what God wanted me to do. For me it was just so simple. Do what God says in the scriptures and through prophets, and you'll be happy. Ya know, keep my commandments and ye shall prosper in the land. I've been doing it and I'm still hurting. So what on earth happened? But then, my mind is brought to a talk by Elder Holland that says how could we think it would always be easy for us for it was never ever easy for Him(Christ)? Sometimes you'll have hard times. Sometimes It'll suck. Like really suck. And everyone who's not doing good seems so happy. But the sun will rise again, as it does every morning, putting to light the lies of hell and brightening your way to an all knowing, all powerful God who loves YOU. knows YOU. personally. 

Elder Kyle McOmber

Ps I guess I can't complain really because I'm on the beach but idk

Guys we chillin on the beach

Yall,

This week was absolutely wack. Traveled for like quite a long time like I said in my last email lol, got to an area that I don't even know like at all, and just got to work. Felt like a brand new missionary again so ya know that was kinda interesting and maybe a tad uncomfy🙈😆 but man have I seen the hand of God this week, maybe starting with the fact that dude they have basically a Walmart here and McDonald's and KFC and Subway I'm literally gonna cry man you don't even know. Oh and we on the beach so lit.

But really this week has felt like absolute chaos. It's been fire. But when I stopped back for moments, and I let go of the things my mind had been attached to going a million miles an hour. I found Christ. I found peace. It was just that simple. Sometimes our life is stressful. Sometimes we wonder where He is because it just all feels so wack and different like you never even knew anything. But when you take a second to turn to Him. There He is. There He was, because He was there the whole time. Waiting for you to take the step, just to give you the things your heart so dearly needs. Faith, Hope and charity.

Elder McOmber🤙

They have peace.

Got transferred today, just chillin on a bus right now it's kinda fire. It's like free sleep for the next day and a half. It's beautiful. The Lord provides guys, idk how he does it but I ain't gonna complain.

Thanksgiving here is a little interesting. The food is super dope, so hyped for that. But what really hit me is how thankful I am for what I have been given. I had a conversation with a buddy in the branch the other day about the USA and CR. It was super funny but the part that hit me was that we have a whole ton of stuff and privileges in the states. But they have peace. Which I mean I don't fully understand what thats supposed to mean as a missionary here. But I have seen people smiling and vibing who by most people's standards are suffering. But it doesn't matter to them. As they know their true source of joy. They know Jesus. And with that, everything is gonna be ok. With Him, even when we don't understand, we walk the path because He will never lead us astray. I have seen just an inkling of what that means. I thrive on something I never really saw was there to be given me. But now I've caught a glimpse, and I'm never letting go.

El buen trabajo continúa

Elder Kyle McOmber

Happy thanksgiving🤙

Spicy shrimp ramen with saltine crackers

(wasn't as good as I thought it would be)

Pictures with the old Branch

old area 😢

the home hood street

Better than Disneyland

Imagine you've just been given to tickets to Disneyland, and they're like fire tickets too, like you get to skip the lines, you get to eat at some absolutely dope restaurants that no one else can. All the best stuff in the park. And with your extra ticket you want to take your best friend in literally the whole world and they have never been there before, and they're like sure whatever, I heard Disneyland was mid but whatever, so you take em to the park, you are so hyped to show them Disneyland, how dope it is, and you're on the tram ride from the parking lot, they're like ok this is actually kinda awesome. They are literally on the tram ride saying this. You're like, hah you ain't seen nothin yet. And so you get to the park to the part where you're just waiting in line to get your bags checked and security and your friend sees all the security and goes 'ya know what, this is kinda weird, idk, I don't really wanna do this anymore. I liked the tram ride though that was cool, maybe I'll go ride that again, you go in though and have fun without me'. Like bruh, you don't even know. Like you gotta come in you don't even know what you're missing. That's what it's like in the kingdom of heaven. Better actually, because sometimes Disneyland is kinda mid as far as like 2 hour lines and you know dang expensive food hahaha. Christ just wants you to come and see, take a peak, experience his Gospel, then you'll know it's true power. How awesome it really is.

My dope president told that to me along with a reference to the talk 'Put on thy strength oh Zion' by David A Bednar. That's really what it's like, you just gotta try it out, give Him a shot, and then you'll see:))

On another note, we had a world record number of like 40 something people in sacrament meeting yesterday and I think I almost cried lol. We usually have like maybe half that. Super dope. Have a couple more photos and videos than last week, enjoy em🤙

El buen trabajo continua

Elder Kyle McOmber

🤙

Almost got hit by a semi after this photo my bad

Parrot that kept landing on my head during a lesson

Pipas baby

Some friends I found on the way to a members house

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The power of hope!

This week, I just want to share a little bit of my thoughts. With all that has happened and all the different studies and random conversations we've had, the biggest thing, was hope. Hope that this gospel is true in the form of faith. Hope that things will get better. Hope that today will be a good day. Sometimes, hope that we will have enough money to eat something besides overcooked rice hahaha. Hope can be our driving force. In fact it should be. When hope takes the stage of our mind's focus, somehow our lives just seem to work out, but not somehow. God. Our faith, our hope, moves our mountains, physically, emotionally, spiritually. Have a little hope. When life hits you like a freight train, have a little hope. For He that created you has a loving plan of that great hope, built for you. Trust in Him.

El buen trabajo continua,

Elder Kyle McOmber

Noticing a change this week✨

Hallo

Dude, we have 3 baptismal dates fixed this week. I don't even know what to say I'm so excited! Honestly though, I have literally no idea what we do when we get to this point because most people haven't been progressing like this of the people we've been teaching so ya know, pray for me. And also pray for them cause they boutta join the kingdom of God🙊

I've kinda started changing this week, I found myself with the ability to understand the people that we are teaching, and with that I've been able to actually connect with them. (It's a little more fun than just standing there and saying that I know the church is true, not sure why, weird). But as I've connected with them, I have been able to just appreciate how dang dope these people are, they don't see it, but they are amazing, literally they rock my world. Let me rephrase this, you are a child of God, it's more than just something we said when we were kids. Whoever you love, you have to understand that whatever power that love holds or is, Christ holds that for YOU specifically. I have received an inkling of the love God has for you. He knows and loves you so flipping much you couldn't even comprehend. It's time you really started living like you knew it. Like you knew that everything is going to be ok. Because it is. God knows you. He is your army to back you, He is your Father, reaching down to bring you out of the slums, and into the glory of eternal happiness of Godship, perfection, and eternal families. I know it. It's time you did too. Love y'all.

El buen trabajo continua,

Elder Kyle McOmber

All the stuff on the right is Costa Rica, on the left is Panamá, idk thought it was cool

City baby

Idk what to say my comp is charging his phone at a random guys house

Massive moth (sorry maya😆)

Random cool bug I found in my shoe 

The district

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Kids are the best🤸‍♀️

Yo,

Pretty chill week this week. Plenty of time knocking doors and inviting people to love Jesus. We had an absolutely great experience this week when we were going to one of our friends houses. We tried to find if they were home and all we found was like 12 kids just yelling and playing out front it was super funny, we asked them if their family was available and they said no, but then we were just like hey, btw we have gifts for you, and then we pulled out like our pamphlets of the Restoration and christ coming to the americas and man they were so excited HAHAHA if you've ever seen the movie freetown it was a lot like that. They followed us after we left to get more of our "books of jesus" so chill, I swear kids are the best.

Some of the other good experiences this week were with other kids also. Two specifically: 

One of them was a girl and her younger brother walking in the street and when we asked them about hearing about jesus the boy said yup our house is right up there on the left, we'd love to hear:), his sister seemed very annoyed lol.

The second was a family we're teaching, we asked them what they thought about baptism and the mom seemed a little iffy whereas her 8 year old was like yes, i love baptism, when we doing this.

I'm telling you children are amazing. In mosiah, King Benjamin talks about this too, man knew what was up. We are to become as little children in His gospel(mosiah 3:19). It's not that complicated, it just takes time. It can be slow. But the blessings are undeniable. Become as a little child. Know that the path the Father laid for us was the best one we got, keep trying to work your way down that road he layed, an all powerful, all loving God and Father, and receive the joy He promises.

El buen trabajo continua

Elder Kyle McOmber

$1.50 dinner from a blessed friend🙏

Gotta tell em all the good word ya know

The diet

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Rivers going through homes. My dad's wise words.

Hey y'all,

This week was kinda crazy man, after the hurricane we have been going to a ton of different places and just asking them if we could help them take the massive amount of dirt, logs and water out of their house. Many times they don't want to admit to wanting help so we just kinda helped them without asking, my bad. But other than that we had a meeting with our area seventy and that was really cool (other than the 8 hour bus ride to get there) actually that's a lie the ride was lit I finally got to sleep. What a blessing!

The spirit has been so strong this week. My dad talked about something that I really want to share with you because I have been able to know its truth a ton of times this week. It's the power of service. I talked about it a little bit in another email with hard work. But before doing service, there's is just this feeling of just not wanting to do the service, it just seems so hard. But in reality, it is so good, the things you can do for yourself and others by serving. Often, the person doing the service is benefitted more than the person being served. It just feels so right, ya know. I flippin love it. Try out my dad's very wise words. Go do some service.

El buen trabajo

Elder Kyle McOmber

Centipede that almost crawled up my hand

Dude they have pizza hut in the city, how dope is that

Fillin pots for one of the members in the rain🙈🔥

pura servicio what a blessing!

the holy moth

We had a hurricane!⛈ Letting God help when the floods of life burden us.

Allooo y'all,

I hope you're good. I hope the life is pura vida. Iss all good. It's been a little crazy for the last couple a days. A lot of central america has been hit by a hurricane recently and usually Costa Rica just doesn't have many problems with that, it doesn't usually hit us. And this time it still didn't hit most of the country, and even though it hit us we didn't have crazy winds like a hurricane. However we did have some crazy rain for a good few days. We have two rivers running through our area and they rose about 20 to 30 feet, covering the 'bridge' that ran over them and flooding a ton of people's homes in the area. They're all pretty pura vida and chill with a literal river running through their house, but we've got some work to do.

Just like these people, sometimes we have rivers in our lives that run over, they're no longer easy to bear, our burden is heavy. However there are others that have been put in our path to help us, to give us help. There is no strength in denying the help of others. True strength, is being able to admit you can't do it on your own. Because His yoke is easy, His burden is light. Asking for His help DOES NOT mean you have failed. It means your growing, for He is your guide, He receives those who come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Let Him guide you.

El buen trabajo continua

Elder Kyle McOmber

Part of our area that got flooded

Some of our elders preaching the good word to the president of Costa Rica😆

The greatest tailgate I ever did see

Viviente el sueño🤙

I got a dog. The secret to missionary work is WORK!

 Hey y'all,

This week was kinda an interesting week honestly, my comp got injured so we didn't really do a whole lot of actual contact in the street. Iss aight though it was still a good week, just a little different. Speaking of which, um I hope president doesn't get mad, but we kinda broke the no pets rule😳. We had been coming home all week and finding our trash and things just everywhere. We thought it was just like the window or somethin but yesterday we came home and there was just this dog going through our stuff! So I mean I guess we have a new companion to help us so thats pretty fire HAHAHA.

Something I learned this week was something I think my dad has been trying to teach me for 18 years. Work. Just hard work. President Ezra Taft Benson said: 

“I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work—there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.”

There were many times this week when I've just felt super down on myself and I don't know why. I know some of you feel like you're not enough. Like others are getting life so much easier. Feel "why is this happening to me, I am trying to be good" "Lord I WANT to be good" why do I feel so TERRIBLE?!

THOSE TIMES. That's when you need to work. Why? Because without an explanation I can give besides the very Jesus who carries us Home, His work will ALWAYS bring you to hope. To joy. You will replace your bad feelings with good. I see it every day. Over and over and over again. I can't explain it. It's been workin every time. Show kindness to others, ask about the lives of others, and care enough to truly listen. Be the rock of hope for someone else, that Jesus is for you. Then ye will see the Salvation of God in your life and for His arm to be revealed.

El buen trabajo continua

Elder Kyle McOmber

Bought some food to eat during GC, dulces from heaven (no mom they weren't as good😔)

Our new companion

prolly against mission rules, my bad

Brazilian Lemonade🔥

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