Crazy Eyes

Oh my the new companionship is AMAZING.  We are on fire and the lessons are so spiritual. Hna Alvarado is a SUPER STAR.  She's so awesome and I love them both so much. I'm so proud of you and your hike and now all that's left is your triathlon this weekend!! You're going to do so well I know it! You're such an inspiration to me about not giving up! aww my daddy's awesome. and furthermore thanks for the pictures I love pictures a lot a lot. and the BEARS! how scary! how did you not freak out!! 

Okay so first Monday- I didn't end up having my hair cut by a fourteen yr. old.... but I did end up cutting it myself and with $5 scissors and it turned out okay.. not to shabby -  just a trim, a few layers and bangs, hahha.  It'll grown that's the good part.

my hair cut

Tuesday we have a sweet awesome zone conference and it started off by playing basketball for an hour! It was so good to run down the court and steal the ball from the elders.  I felt awesome... until I tried shooting... every time it would almost go in and then it would bounce out. Everyone kept saying I must be cursed because it wouldn't ever go in. Oh well it was fun. Then after this we had the opportunity to help out with the Dia de la Madre actividad. It was so fun and so we called and invited EVERYONE and then made little handouts and then helped set up. The thing was starting and they were freaking out saying we need plates and spoons and cups so me and Hna O did divisions and ran to the store and bought cups and then we got back and they were like we need juice, but we cant buy it. Ya'll have packets at your house right? So we were like uh... yeah but that's kinda like a 15 walk from the chapel. So they said take our bikes and let me tell you a bike made for a 6 foot man... and me in a pencil skirt did not work out as nicely as I would've liked.... i just prayed that people would think I was wearing white biker shorts and then the bike didn't have a break.. so at every cross street I had to skid to a stop using my feet. So me and Hna Ogletree looked like goofballs but we saved the day. We went to invite some people on our way back and I swear these boys were like those can't be the sisters.. they're on bikes! what?? but they ended up coming to the activity so it was worth it. Then we served the food. it was some real good food. and the goal was 80 people and we had like 125 people with 25 investigators. So it was super super successful! 



Dia De Las Madres

Then on Wednesday we went to our washerladies house to pick up our clean clothes.... and she was like I need to tell you sisters something.. its kinda embarrassing for y'all, but its because I love you and want the best for you. So I've had some people  come up to me and tell me that you and Hna Ogletree smell really bad and you guys don't dress like disciples of Christ and you girls have dirty shoes and are alwyas sweaty. So you need to do something about that. Then shes like and  Hna Ogletree I couldnt get the smell out of your shirt so I drenched it in bleach so the color isnt navy anymore its like grey (or better yet poop green - nasty grey).  Me and Hna Ogletree were like WHAT?? Where did this come from?? Who said this??? But she wouldn't tell us.  we were just laughing because we cant help´the sweaty problem... but the stinking problem.... well we both smell fine and really i put on so much deodorant and body spray that I smell more than fine I smell good. and our companion was like umm... I'm  with them all the time and they dont stink. So yeah it was really funny and now we have new nicknames. I'm smelly or in spanish olorocita and Hna O  is stinky or apestocita. haha. It's super chistoso and comico and its a great story but i don't understand where it came from. I think shes made it up because she knows we are  looking for a different laundry person. hah.

Okay Thursday we went to a new town and talked with this lady and she is super old and  has 14 kids and she is just super lonely right now and the light she had when we were talking and then when we started talking about Christ she just started to cry. I'm so excited to help her come to Christ. We started teaching English too.  That's  a hit! So that's super fun and awesome! 



FHE night with smores--well kinda (we did what we could)

So Michelle  is soo soo much happier! Its so great seeing the changes these past few weeks. I gave her a dress because shes prego and doesn't have money to buy maternity clothes so shes been sewing it to fit her and she decided to make us little bows. It's so cute because she smiles when she sees us now and she likes coming to church and she should be baptized in two weeks. It's just so so great! love that child.



painting service project

Okay we got a reference to go to this house and so we went and were we heard you wanted to talk to us and she was like yea i want you to teach my daughters English and we were like yea sure. and then we went by on Saturday and taught English and tried to sneak in some gospel stuff for these 8 and 9 yr olds and then when we walked out she was like can you teach my girls about Christ and take them to church. Then on Sunday when we walked them home they were like we want to be baptized with you! So such a miracle and we get to help this family so thats aweosme too! References are the best!

Okay so crazy eyes.. so one of our investigators Christian is a punk. And like a week ago he made a huge fuss about how my eyes are super scary and super penetrating and that he can't look at me because it's so piercing.. and so i was like awe.. bummer. my eyes suck. and then we went on a bus and this random guy was tlaking to us and he went to Hna Alvarado. wow your eyes are so nice and dark they're like my daughters and then to Hna Ogletree wow what pretty eyes you have they're so green and American and then he got to me... took one look jumped backward and then was like whoa... those are just .... uhh... piercing. haha. so then we were teaching Christian this week and he did it again and then his mom agreed. so idk whats happening but apparently i have demon eyes. hahah.



I use these bubble when we have good news, spiritual experiences, miracles--they're fun! I love bubbles!

Okay I love you all the church is true. we're finding so many new investigators and miracles are happening so that we can meet our goal of 6 baptisms this transfer. Thats what faith and hard work produce! 

Love ya 

Hna Coburn

Liahona

Aww daddy dear! Thanks for the email. It's so scary to think how fast time is flying I still have SO much to learn and SO much to do. I wish it'd slow down a little bit .... but at the same time I'd like it to speed up so I can help the people faster. 

And mom, wowwwwwzerzzz. What a letter! Missionary work is so important and the church is CENTERED around it. The purpose of the church is to do the saving ordinances   and so what better way to find and get more people with more Ward missionaries! That's so exciting!!  Oh and Bishop Sultan said in Thomasville they have 30 people with dates for baptism. I want the secret! Ask them what they're doing down there. haha

Okay so this week was amazing. So Tuesday we went to San Jose for a conference of just the sisters. It was so good. So first I got to see Hna Starke!! Oh how I  love that girl and it was so good to finally talk and hear how she's doing and everything (I hope we´re companions some day...) and then I got to see Hna Boer! and that was super awesome tooo! It was like a reunión and so fun. Then the classes -wow- I learned so much and I felt the spirit all day. And really I decided I have so so so so much work to do because I'm so far from where I need to be spiritually in order to have the success that I know I can have and to really make Heavenly Father proud of me. 

So Pres.Wilkinson is literally one super inspired man.. like so close to the veil. Everything he says I just jaw drop in awe. He's going to be a seventy some day really soon. He taught us about how to be better women and we learned alot about the atonement. I know that Christ knows me and I know he loves me and I know that Heavenly Father listens to my prayers and answers them with exactly what I need.I'll have to tell you how I know all this in person when I get home. Its too awesome to write over email. But Dad I want you to know that the experience I had, you really helped me to understand this concept.

Okay so Wednesday we taught Michelle. And I love this girl. She's so sad and she's got a wall built up but every lesson we cut it down just a little bit more. She's feeling the spirit and I can see her changing and opening up to us! and I love being able to help her. We also had a Ward activity and we were able to play a fun game and talk about exact obedience. We also had our interview for Ernesto so he could be baptized on Sunday.

Thursday I fought with our Branch President. I was a real Smart alick and stubborn and then I ate some humble pie from Pres. Wilkinson  because he wants us to work better with our leaders even if they are in the wrong. Sometimes its better to be silent. 

So this happened in the morning and then this day I was really focusing on being humble and listening to the spirit. And then the miracles started happening. So I had prayered with all manner of heart to find a priesthood holder.. someone who could help fortify our Ward because all our leaders live on the coast so i want to baptize someone here and then we were walking and we weren't sure what to do and I got the feeling to see if this random guy we met once was home. So we talked to him and he's AWESOME. really Golden and he is pleading for help to quit smoking and so we're like super stoked with that. and I know that was a miracle and a direct answer to my prayer. Because of this my comps started calling me Liahona. So they asked where to go next. It was kinda like a game but it was super fun. I just had to listen to the spirit. So we went to visit a less active guy. we dont normally visit him and so we went and taught a lesson and then I got another feeling to ask just a simple question.. if he was having any doubts right now and he went off about how he wants to drop anything religious and just be his own Iglesias and have his own personal relationship with the Lord without a church.  It was so amazing to see how such a simple question opened up this guy because without it we would've left having not known and being ignorant to his real needs. Needless to say we bore our testimonies and expressed our opinion about how stupid that idea was and just stood strong on the imporatnce of a church and reading the scripturs and prayer and stuff like that. Okay so that was a super spiritual experience one of the first ones like this where i really focused on doing everything the Lord would have me do and focused on being humble and submissive and listening and focusing on our investigators.

So then on Friday we did splits. I went with Hna Johnson. The new gringo family and she served a mission so it was super cool. I went with her and we taught Alonso about... ley de castidad. It went well I thought and it was cool because I had to lead everything and I had the better Spanish so I had to really teach by the spirit so I could talk correctly and lead the lesson how the Lord would. Once we reunited we went to visit Michelle and we found Alonso's girlfriend who we keep asking where she lives and he never would tell us and then just by chance we found her and shes GOLDEN shes already been reading stuff that Alonso had been giving her. like the pamphlets and all.

Saturday i did divisions again but this time just me and Nicole our cook's daughter and that was fun i like being forced to work hard and work more in tune with the spirit.

 Sunday we had our baptism! and it was so so so beautiful. He's so awesome. Ernesto is 14 yrs. old. in one lesson this week we taught him about the atonement and about Christ and he was totally soaking it all in and then at the end we asked if he had any questions and he got super super quiet. and serious and he said yea.. one... why does everyone I know ask if you're my girlfriends and call y'all hot? We busted up laughing and then he was like why do y'all walk so fast.. well it makes sense because y'all are all so skinny. hah. and then our district leader at the end of the interview with him asked what we could do to be better and Ernesto answered with they are so good to me. They couldn't be better. I love this kid. And at his baptism his testimony was so sincere and so full of truth and he felt so pure and loved. It was just amazing.

Okay I love y'all so much! The church is true!

hna Coburn!!

Crazy Monday

So this week has been amazing, and random. and yesterday was awful so i didn't get to write but luckily president was nice even though he's not happy and gave us a little bit of time today to write to y'all. so this will be short and sweet and probably just the highlights.

This was the last week with my trio and we wanted to work extra hard. So Tuesday we really work and teach a lot of people but here's the sad part we had to drop Alexander. I was heart broken. The fact is he was heartbroken too but he was okay with it. Its really sad because he's in the world and doesn't want to leave it even though he knows the truth. It reminds me of lots wife. he can't stop looking back so he's not moving forward. hopefully some other missionaries can teach him and help him move away from the party scene.

Wednesday. okay so Diana was baptized on Sunday and we've been teaching her sister the same amount of time and so we were hoping her sister would be baptized too but she kept saying she wanted to feel more prepared (which is good but bad because we knew she was so prepared) She's so golden its not even funny. so this week with faith we planned to have a baptism and that it would be her baptism. so Wednesday we plan an awesome lesson really counting on the spirit. and we get to there and she's still on the way home so we teach her fam about temples. she comes in right near the end and so we finish and say any questions... and she says hi yeah i have a question..can i be baptized now. and we're like YES! so she says she was explaining our beliefs to a friend when she realized she should be a member already and how she knows its true and she just wants to go on a mission. she's so great. and so i was like yeaaa go on a mission (if she goes through the temple in exactly a year i can go through with her!) 

so I was really sick on Wednesday and Thursday and it was a weird sickness.. i was super cold and had a head ache and my body literally had no energy. so i wore a sweater all Wednesday.. in 95 degree weather.. hah. funny site to see. okay so Thursday after a nap i got feeling better and we went out a worked and so we we're supporting one of our investigators and she was dancing so hna bojorque was there and we were out doing divisions and its like 7:00 and really dark and we're at the end of the street in the dark and we're getting ready to pass by a house with a monster dog when the lights everywhere went out. we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. pitch black. Luckily dad prepared me well and I had an awesome flashlight. we said a walking prayer  and quickly headed to a house of a member because its not safe to walk in the dark. so that was so scary and random and the lights didn't come back on til 9. it was like a movie all the lights in the whole part of town gone...nothing except for car lights. 

Friday... so after planning for the week we go to lunch. we come back to finish planning and i get up to go to the bathroom and our bathroom is FLOODED! and our bedroom is FLOODED! and everything is wet and gross.- the pipe that fills up the toilet broke and so we wasted time trying to fix that and did divisions again and this was so good for me. i went out with hna bojorque and we got to do two lessons. I lead this lesson with my broken spanish, and it was a growing experience and showed that i can do it i just need to have faith. it was good.

Saturday! Baptism. it was a beautiful baptism that couldn't be attended by many because of our branch pres..but its okay. we still had the baptism and saved a soul. 

Sunday- Sunday was awesome. Both Diana and Gabi got confirmed we got to go to their house for lunch and they're just so great. she said again she wants to go a mission it makes me so stoked. and then we got to go teach a few lessons. so we went over to gilmers house to teach him and alejandro about the temple because we have a temple trip coming up and his mom (the one who i wrote about last week with the evil spirit) starts off again. she just starts yelling into our lesson and call her sons awful and hypocrites and she then starts going off on our religion and shes lifeless in her eyes and literally the scariest thing for me to experience because she literally is accompanied by an evil spirit and she is blaspheming out the wingwang and it was awful i had to pull hna bojorque and hna ogleetree away from fighting with her because their is no point-- she has a problem. but then we got to talk to gilmer and alejandro and explain that in some cases you can't obey your parents and that they need to keep reading the book of mormon and the bible and keep attending church with us and staying strong. i worry about this house hold and hope that she leaves soon. and so after wards we go and we realize we lost our keys. were looking everywhere.. finally i go up and climb over a ledge and climb into our part of the apartment and then ask the neighbors and they said they found the keys. so random because asking them hadn't come into my mind.. i just did it. ha. the lord answers prayers.

sorry this is short and not detailed. the church is true. the lord loves us. keep up the good work. 

mom i'm so impressed and super jealous of your dirt cheap trip. i want to see everything and have everything haha. i might get changed this week so well see about that. i love you all soooooo soooo much!! gotta go. 

oh and this is what happened Monday. the sister training leaders planned an activity for two zones and it was 3hrs away and then we got up at 5 and started our travels to be there by ten but then the bus was wrong and then the activity was only for an hour and then they gave us the wrong bus times so we got back and had to just get to work. hah.

okay. bye. love yo.

#gringoweek

aight so this is whats up.. 

this pday we went to the beach

Tuesday night we got a Phone call that one of the sisters in Liberia was sick so they wanted Hna Bojorque to go and work up there for a week leaving just me and Hna Ogletree here. So we dropped her off on wednesday and then it was left to us the rest of the week. Its so crazy to see how much I´ve grown in five days having to work with just one companion and with that companion being a gringo. I've loved it. We´ve been able to really communicate what we need to fix and what we need to do to become an even better companionship. 

Okay so on wendesday we taught one of our investigators that is 15 years old. He had his neighbor over so we were just teaching them both not thinking anything of it. Now his neighbor is a teeny tiny ball of fire who is only 10 yrs old. His name is Sandy. And he was eating up the story of the book of mormon. So the next day we see him and hes like Why haven't you come to my house! I just want you to teach me and to teach my family. haha. So we're like con mucho gusto. with much pleasure. So we´ve taught him and he´s been reading but every time we pass his house we runs out side and yells HERMANAS! where ya going? I'm going to come too! So even though hes an investigator he's been following us around like he's a little puppy. We're hoping his mom lets us baptize him in three weeks. We weren't really taking him as a serious investigator because hes so young and silly and sassy but then on Saturday he said why haven't you asked me to be baptized like you asked toni. hah i want to be baptized in your church. so were like okay time to save this kids life and help him get on the "path that rocks" (emperors new grove). 

So on the topic of little kids. We´re teaching the grandson of one of our members and he's 9. he's so funny and we love this kid. So we´re teaching him and we´re in the church just in the primary room and We ask him a question.. and he says turn off the lights first. So we do and we just sit there and then the door opens and we see him crawling away. hah. He said he was trying to sneak out because he hates answering questions. hah. it was hilarious.

One of the members works in the bakery and so we helped him out

Now for a weird weird weird story. So remember the mom of Gilmer and Alejandro. I said that cool experience how she prayed and she got an answer and all and we were so excited but this past Friday we went and visited her. and we knew that she hadn't been at church and we heard that she was still going to her other church so i just straight up asked her why because she received an answer and knew that this was the true church and this is what happened. She got a strange look on her face and was yelling or talking with a lot of force explaining how this church was calling to her and this church was the one she needed to be in and then she said sometimes when we're in moments of confusion that's when Satan tries to put thoughts in your mind. And went on to say that in the lesson the last week she was in that moment of confusion. So we asked what she felt like when she prayed and she said it was the weirdest feeling in my life. and i just wanted to cry. and she said the spirit in my other church (which this church is Weird weird weird. its screaming and dancing and the pastor just got put in jail for molestation of little kids and cutting off the boy parts for a member) and we said the feeling you felt the last lesson and she said it was like a warmth and i felt peace. but you know the spirit isn't just peace its joy and dancing. She was so weird and I felt so uncomfortable. The thing is she's so blinded that she thinks the real spirit of the lord is of the devil and she thinks the crazy spirit she feels in her Evangelical church is the only real spirit of god. its so sad. It makes me think of the scripture.. I think in 2 nephi 15:20 because she really calls good evil and evil good. And no matter how powerful the lesson or how strong the spirit is shes got this thought that its of Satan and so if y'all have any suggestions how to combat this let me know because i'm at a loss. And her poor sons because she brings an awful feeling to the people around her. 

i made this out of a palm tree leaf

So good story. Mygela. Mygela started out hating us. Thinking we were such a bother. She's a member but hace 12 anos. and she was so lazy. she'd say flat out i don't want to come to church i'm lazy or i don't want stop drinking coffee i'm lazy. but now shes reading the doctrine and covenants and the liahona and shes coming to church and shes spreading the gospel and being such a great missionary. And Gilmer! Gilmer is teaching one of his friends with us right now. I think he could be one great help in getting so much more priesthood holders in this branch. 

The baptism on Sunday was good. I'm glad we've got the mom and one daughter and the other daughter is getting baptized this Saturday. I'm excited. This family is amazing and they need the blessings of the gospel.

Life is great though!! I love yall alot!!

Ill try to answer your questions better next time. 

oh and Alexander... hes well its sad really really sad. he wants to change but he doesn't want to stop drinking so he;s just partying and getting drunk but still listening to us. so we're going to talk to him really hard and direct and frank tonight because we're done playing around you cants serve god and mammon.