Let rainy season begin

So where to start-- this week started the rainy season... I have a really nice foot tan already, but thats about it. Every night this week I have come home absolutely soaked. So I decided when people say you can´t be a cute missionary it isn't because of the clothes. its because of the sweat, and rain, and the walking you have to do. So I´m pretty homely looking every day but its fine. I love the work and barely look at myself..... haha.

Madison found a machete in their house and
bought a pineapple so she could use it.

Okay so last time I was in such a rush I forgot to just tell some facts. So our house.. Our house is nice. Its got a mini fridge and like a camp fire stove and its got a really nice closet and three beds... here's where the problem comes in. Its got a bathroom...with a shower and a toilet. The sink in there is broken, the toilet is reallly weak and doesn´t have a seat, the shower is a pipe and doesn't have a head. haha. So lets just say living on rice and beans I might've clogged the toilet TWICE now... that's a record. But I fixed it. hah. Its a great house though I love it. We have bugs everywhere, but mainly just moths, ants, and cockroaches. The view is gorgeous, it was kinda pretty... but kinda brown.. but now that its the rainy season its all so LUSH and just beautiful. I'll send pictures of scenery later. I'm going today to buy boots because its so rainy and my feet are so blistery and pruney haha. 




So our neighors.. i only know one. One is a sweet like little 2 yr old boy named Juan David. He always visits and terrorizes us. and then his sweet puppy lucas is always in our casa too. he's our little mascot. So what else. okay so fruit- I´ve tried some weird fruit lately.. one is called mamon it looks the size of a big cherry and you bite it take off the shell or outer layer and suck the meat off of the seed. then spit the seed. Its fun and pretty delicious. And then I ate this one I don't know what its called but its orange and hard and you suck out the seeds and meat from the inside looks like a dinosour or alien egg and you suck out the baby.. hahh. its SO good though. Today my smoothie was a banana papaya mango mmmm soo good.One investigator always gives us food and its delicious last time it was arrozconleche or rice and milk with cinnamon and it was AMAZING, not like rice pudding or anything i've ever had and the cinnamon was different too but so good. and then she gave us fried dulce.. which is like fried cake type think and then drenched in this savory sweet sauce.. idk how to explain it but mmm awesome. im going to come home so fat. its aweful. i mean we walk everywhere and we sweat alot alot so i'm hopeing it counteracts that... but who knows. The time is reallly flying by. this week was so fast. Oh okay so dogs and cats everywhere but here's the weird one.. frogs. zapos are EVERYWHERE and they're like squirrels they get runned over and there are just millions dead on streets. the squirrels here are bright orange and very pretty. and the iguanas are HUGE. anyway.. yeah.. so hope you liked the pictures.

So This week was an awesome week. we really kicked booty and worked really hard. So we have 6 people working on baptism. 2 sisters Diliana and Jada. Their mom is a recent convert and they used to hate the missionaries but we just went in and that first lesson they both accepted to be baptized. we're just awesome like that. they have such sweet spirits they are gorgeous and talented and i just can't wait to see whats in store for them as they continue on in the gospel and continue getting closer to the lord. Okay then we have Chuma and Geseña. Oh my sweet sweet chuma. he's 15 and he always listens and tries so hard i secretly think he loves hna ogletree but hes awesome and his mom is too. he brought his friends to listen to us and he's just awesome. I like how much work we can do and i like a challenge so i've really been teaching and testifying a lot and so far I'm like really proficient at the Joseph Smith story.

Madison is in a trio

 I love my trainer she's really awesome. So one day we worked on having the spirit and using that and learning what to say by that and I was able to testify and teach without any trouble. It was a really neat experience and this week I've been praying more for the gift of interpretation of tongues because if i can understand whats going on then i know i can figure out way to say what the spirits telling me. I have seen such a difference. I'm really able to participate more in this stuff. Okay so thus being said its still super hard. don't think i feel confident or comfortable with where i'm at. I have so much work to be done. I know that as i rely on the lord and keep working i will get better each day and that's all i care about. this goes with anything you want to think about- just focus on getting better and better and that's whats matters most. so yeah. we hit a record for our zone with lessons taught this week its 33. the record which they previously had was 28 so we're doing work and this week our goal is 36. We're just trying to teach and testify and let people know the truth and its paying off.

 So Wednesday we get to go to the BEACH! we live in the city part and most members live on the coast an hour away, so Wednesday we get to do service and have fhe at a members home a gringos home and i'm stoked! yesterday we had stake conference.. but for branches so its district conference. it was awesome i understood a lot and it was cool to see all the members. the temple president spoke and pres.wilkinson.  he's awesome he talked about who are we? and being of the tribe of Israel being the elect. its awesome. 

we have a sweet gringo family that gives us american treats on Sunday. this past Sunday was oreos and then at the activity at their house they have a box of food for us because they're moving back to the states in June and need to get rid of it.

i'm glad you shared those stories with the yw. its true the mission really is the hardest best thing.. in the world and as of right now even though i hate and love it and would tell anyone to accept the challenge and help others. 

okay so if you every send packages send name brand cereal, peanut butter and face wash.. its so expensive here. I already found the present i'm bringing home for griffen its a good one (:

And the address on my blog for letters is the address for packages in my call packet is the address for letters so they come quicker.

 Dad mr.international how FUN! I love it. and I can't wait to see the completed kitchen. Summer is going to be bomb. I wanna hear all about your fun times. Hallie and Mom get tan for me because its the rainy season til october.. so its just pruney madison. and griffen you smarty pánts you following in my footsteps! and yeah i love you all alot thanks for the prayers and know that i miss you and love you.

Study hard core in the scriptures the book of Jacob. what a great book in the book of mormon. I've done a week studying it. my scriptures look like a hot mess highlighted and notes and references.. its so awesome.

love yall. 

hna coburn

First Letter from Costa Rica

Okay so time to write like a manic to try and fit all of this in during my time frame.  I love the Bridge and I love the clock that's so awesome! Also I love just all the pictures from you guys. Its so nice to see yalls face! And how fun having Stefan there. Is Stuart there with you for the rest of the time? That's fun if he is. I can't believe its already SUMMER time!! How fun. Love love love it. I miss summer in Georgia.... So get tan and have a blast and just all that jazz. If you write me any letters through the mail if you send them within the week I'll get them when I have to go back to San Jose in  four weeks! Okay so now all the deets. I am still sick and my head was killer on the plane but Its fine I'm fine and I'm sure I'll get over it soon. There computers here don't recognize English so there's a little red line under everything so I will probably have lots of spelling mistakes.. oh well..

Tuesday- So on the plane to costa rica it was me by the window, my companion, and then a 30-40 yr old man. So I just start chit chatting with him and okay lets just get this straight its 3 hr and like 40 min flight.. and I started at the very beginning before takeoff. I looked so gross because my eye was all exploded and and my face all red and my nose running.. but whatever. We started talking and he's from Washington and I'm thinking oh great he's gonna hate anything religious .. those liberals. But we talked for the like the whole time minus like 20 minutes when he took a nap. He's super religious catholic. and He's a FANTASTIC man. He is so family oriented and he just was so good everything he said was so Christ like. And so by the end I had written my testimony on a postcard with Joseph Smith in the garden we got free at the mtc and I put my email address and gave him it and a book of Mormon. He said he'd read it and email me about how he feels and about any questions he may have. He had such a great spirit I hope he actually reads it. So we get there and Oh yeah on the plane when we were getting on, this man Brother Robins from Arkansas said he'd help us and get us through customs and baggage claim and all.. so we got off and I was following everyone and him and I get to customs and I was talking in Spanish and they wouldn't let me pass... they kept saying my visa was for 30 days not 18 months and so I just kept explaining I was doing the residency stuff here but that was after I got in the country. So finally he let me pass and we met our president and Whoaaa they're so nice! I love them. so we all pile into buses and they say they're taking us to somewhere special. so we drive and its super dark even though its only like 8:45. They take us to the temple. They give this great pep talk and tell us their phrase "Always Happy, Never Satisfied." Then The president talks about exact obedience and stuff like that. It was awesome. And sister Wilkinson gave us all native cookies called chickies. So that was awesome too. Okay, so then we (ten of us) go and stay at this trios house. I slept on the floor and took a freezing cold shower, which means I didn't really shower I just kinda dipped in and dipped out. It was awesome. (I was still in my starry-eyed missions are always amazing mode..) Then they told us we had to get up at 3 and leave at 4 so we could wait in line to get our fingerprints taken for residency. keep in mind we got up at 3 that morning to leave for costa rica so we're running on like no sleep and then we were about to only get 4 hrs of sleep again.. but we were all happy as clams.


Wednesday- we get up I throw on clothes and we head to the finger print place. The 10 of us meet up with 3 elders from the Guatemalan ccm. And all of us were so dead that we said hi and that was all. I stayed by Hnas Starke and Boer. So the night before at like 10 we had to take pictures for this finger printing process and I had mine in plain sight and they look ROUGH, but anyway the elders start cracking up and pulling all sorts of jokes about it in Spanish. So I decided I could make friends at 4:30 in the morning.. so me and Hna Starke start chatting with them all in espanol. how awesome! they were so patient and so slow and we could actually understand them. they helped keep us occupied for a good 2 hrs while we waited in line for the place to open. It was really nice thinking I could speak spanish.. So continuing on with the day we're starving its like 9 oclock and we feel like its like 5pm in the evening and we go back to the mission office, president tells us he's going to the temple and to rest up, so we all die. literally no one moved or made a sound for about 2 or 3 hrs. we all tried to stay awake at first writing in our journals and reading our scriptures but now that wasn't happening. Anyways so then after that we got lunch... finally.. all i can think about is food. And its just sandwiches.. not super yummy but then I was given a Banana .. oh my the best thing I've ever tasted.. ever. okay then I had a meeting with the president and it was great I just told him I'm ready to work and that I like to sing and about you familia. And then that was it. After that around 5 oclock we went to go contacting... okay... this was amazing. I spoke spanish and had the spirit with me and I just felt so good about life. We were with our companions and so I was with Hna Boer. we got 5 peoples numbers and one wanted to know what our number was and where our church was and was really receptive and then one time we were about to leave when I just knew I should talk to this one guy and so we went over and it seems he used to have missionaries but that they stopped coming and he just want to set up an appointment and have us teach his whole family now. so that was cool.

Thursday- so okay we were having a traditional breakfast at presidents house. it was awesome and so fun I really enjoyed it. And the food was way good. and then we left and got to meet our companions and find out where we were going.... drum roll pleaseeeeeeee.... My companion is AMAZING literally the best. Her name is Hna Ogletree she's from Texas and is a gringa. She was trained and then she trained and then she trained and now she has me and the other sister she started training 6 weeks ago. The sister is Hna Bojorque. She's from Argentina.. Shes' so awesome too.. I'm picking up her accent at little bit. And then I found out we were going to Santa Cruz... no idea where that was any way so then they said we were staying in San Jose one more night because the bus ride 5 hr long and we had a meeting at pres. tomorrow morning. So that night we did divisions. This was the hardest night for me.. It was me. Hna Bojorque and Hns Quroz.. It was so hard because neither of them spoke English and I didn't speak Spanish  we went to a lot of house, and most of them SUPER pooor and super sad and just it was hard thinking that I have so much and they have so little. We taught I prayed a lot they always wanted me to say the prayer because I'm new. Everyone kisses your cheeks here.. we only let the women. any ways  I felt so alone I couldn't communicate or anything and then I started picking up stuff here and there and I felt a little better. We went to our last house and the guy asked me to say the prayer but in English  It was a tender mercy and I just let my feelings out and could really express what i wanted to. Then we went and that ended this night.


Friday- So we go to this 6 week party check up meeting, because one of my comps was only 6 weeks old and I got reunited with my trainer. The meeting was great all in Spanish and I could understand like 85% of it. Then we went and had a lunch at presidents house. Oh my delicious food and my comp from the mtc was there with her trio! It was awesome . just a great little party . I'll get one in 4-6 weeks too :) okay so now continuing on.. we took a 5 hr bus to our area on the west coast by the pacific in the tail in the province Guanacaste. its the hottest area in costa rica... so that's great and in our branch we have like 40 active members and 500 in-actives..We got back and slept.


Saturday- So we had studies and planning til 4. We had lunch at our normal spot we have a cook that always makes us lunch and that was good rice and beans and meat and because I was soooo hungry I finished a whole portion with only a little sickness feeling. Then we went out and we taught. I don't remember names or places but we taught like 5 lessons. and I was able to testify and to teach a little bit and to pray and to understand most of what they were saying... IT was truly the gift of tongues and interpretations of tongues. I can't even believe it. I had a great experience And I wish I could write more but just know I know I'm in Santa Cruz because I can best understand it all here. The house are fairly nice compared to the houses I went to in San Jose and I decided I'll only wear probs the same 8 outfits every time because I only wanna wear t-shirts and light shirts because its like 100 degrees here and humid.


Sunday- our ward is awesome. most speak some english the second councilor is a gringo and him and his family are awesome they gave us starburst. and they ward is just so nice and again I said a prayer in Sunday school and rs. They love the newbies to pray. Everyone says I have good spanish, but I know I'm just good at using a few key words to kinda get the gist of what they're saying and to then respond as simply as possible. I have so much to learn. I am going to just continue to get better and better and work harder and harder. So today lunch was CRAZY. I can definitley understand what Trent means it was one mean and I couldn't do it. I couldn't eat half of it and so i had to force it down my throat. I felt so sick but it was okay becasue then we started  our fast. I ate an avacado... I hate them but it was fine. Then that night after studies we went to teach. One house I didn't understand like most of it... it was really hard. he just kept rambling and then soccer was on and I just couldn't so that was a bust. and then the next house a drunk guy came and like harassed us.. just kept grabbing our arms and telling us to teach him and about what he thought and all this jazz.. it was crazy they said Sundays are normally pretty weird. Okay


Monday- so today we cleaned and we were fasting and I don't know how they do it here. Its soooooo hot and I'm just thirsty all the time so that was pretty hard but oh well. The lord bless those that sacrifice. WE cleaned our apartment and a rat ate into one of my bras! Its crazy.. but I packed it up and like I said I only have like half of my clothes out because I'll literally be wearing the same-ish stuff --light and cheap and easy. So just before this I broke my fast with the MOST AMAZING smooooothie ever. and for only roughly 2 american dollars. :) I love the fruit here

So my area is pretty and really just middle class. There are dogs everywhere but the lord has helped me to calm that fear I know because I just walk past them. I have had a blast so far and I love my companions. I love you and I've loved talking to you and I hope yall have a greattt weeek!! :)


LOve love love love con mucho amor
hna coburn

May 9th

So, This past Thursday and Friday we had some really powerful lessons on teaching by the spirit, and teaching people not lessons. so its been really awesome doing all that we've learned. It was like one of the best lessons I've ever been taught and it was totally by the spirit the whole time. I then was able to practice with a different companion and teach one of our elders. It was so surprising because I didn't think it would work, but we just followed the spirit and didn't plan anything out and it was awesome.

So Friday afternoon we're waiting for the mail- our DL came out with all these papers and I DIED! They were our travel plans!! So heres how it goes we leave the MTC at 5:00, our SLC flight to Dallas,Fortworth at 8:15, and then from Dallas to Costa Rica at 4:10, so we have a long layover in Texas! We'll get to Costa Rica at 7:00 that night!! We are all so pumped. We found a teacher that just got back in June, and he's been telling us EVERYTHING! he's been raving about it and told us that we go up to the fences- klink on them with our rings and say "Opa Buenas!" he said he doesn't have a direct translation for it but its just what you do. He says the fruit is TO DIE FOR and that there are dogs everywhere ... haha. yeahhh... not my favorite thing but i'll deal with it. He told us what soccer team to route for and such. We talked with him for a while and he really pumped me up like no bodies business. I'm stoked. no nerves yet. 

So Sunday was Fast Sunday it was really cool. We had like a Stake conference.. but MTC style and I enjoyed that a lot. And then we had Testimony meeting. One girl was hilarious in her testimony but said something that really sparked my mind she said, "Once we got our call we were given the gift of tongues..Its like an ikea bookshelf. the instructions are in Swedish and I'm a girl. So it'll just take some work figuring out how to use the gift we've been given." I know this is pretty accurate as I see this gift become evidence every once in a while  and with the speed we've learned what we've learned I know that the I have been blessed with learning so fast. So after our wonderful temple walk and all we decided to have a fiesta like every Sunday and eat and paint our nails and as we were walking to our rooms we say empty laundry bins.... and I'm all one for obedience, but there are no rules against riding in them,.. and we needed a break so we rode them down the hall... haha. it was a blast!

Monday- alright so normally me and hna boer write down topics, phrases, scriptures, and questions we want to ask as we teach but after our lesson we decided we should just go in and rely fully on the spirit. We are teaching Hector, who is agnostic, and knows nothing. We go in and teach him about Prayer. We teach him that god will listen to him and that you have to start somewhere so why not start now. It was amazing how the spirit helped guide the whole lesson and it was amazing how Hector was opening up to us! it was probably our best lesson as of late. The whole lesson had minutes of silence where you could see the spirit testifying and teaching him. It was awesome. I wish I could describe it better but we're so excited to teach him again tonight.  Also. i got a LOAD of letters today so thank you for that. It was mainly from other friends but it was nice having some from family too!! Mom you never fail to write me something every two-ish days! :) Oh and the friends wrote me because they saw on my blog that I wanted to win a letter contest. hahahahaha. so thanks for that... haha. Also we did TRC over SKYPE! Teaching two natives.... okay one native and one rm.. it was uh.... yeah... kinda crazy... it was weird I didn't like it at all, but you know it was a new experience.

Tuesday so one of the elders in our zone is quarantined  (spelling no se..) for strep.. and I have the worst sore throat... so I'm just praying it goes away by Next Tuesday.. So 


Today as a district we decided that it was time to do a challenge to unify us. So we discussed finishing a tower of cereal. So at the last 5 minutes of personal study this morning I got up and gave a pep talk. I told them that if we have faith we can do anything. I read Philippians 4:13. So basically I told them that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So we went down and chose to do Tootie fruites... fruit loops. and went to work... in total we ate 56 bowls of cereal among 9 of us, and the tower is like 4 bags of the giant plastic bags of cereal. okay so yeah, I personally ate 6.5 bowls. most people ate 5,6,or 7 bowls... so crazy. I felt AWFUL the whole day..BUT WE FINISHED IT BONE DRY!!! Succcessss. so worth it.. i'll probably never eat fruit loops ever again though.  

So tonight we talked about commitments and about extending them and the importance of them. Listen we're teaching investigators but we have had to go through the exact same process as them, we've had to grow in faith and action and knowledge  we've had to become converted ourselves. So to me extending commitments isn't hard. To me its like this- its like giving a baby a taste of ice cream... at first their a little weary about what it is.. and then they decided its good so you give them a little bit more and then they want to feed themselves and grab ice cream by their hands. We give them the initial taste, and then they decide that they want more as we help them realize how to eat it, how to use a spoon or hand and make it to their mouth they are then able to make up their own commitments and do it themselves. Its all about us helping them help themselves. So yeah, that was kinda awesome.

Wednesday- today I was a host! I hosted the new missionaries. I got to see Mckay allman and some friends from BYU. I had the opportunity to help 2 different girls. (I saw one this morning at breakfast.. it was awesome she was so happy to see a familiar face.) It was a weird experience seeing EVERYONE who got dropped off crying.. the missionary or the family. And seeing all the sadness for such an awesome opportunity. I don't know if yall cried at home, or after I saw yall but i'm glad you didn't cry while dropping me off... that would've been weird because i was so happy and excited and oblivious to the fact that I really won't see my family.  So yesterday one of the HIGHLIGHTS of my week was a letter from Lindsey Hawes. It was the funniest thing ever and I think she deserves and honorable mention in my blog this week hahaha.

So I won't get to call you Sunday but I will get to call while at the airport on Tuesday!! So here's the dealio. Make sure everyone is available and ready at that time because i'll be using a calling card. I want to make sure that I reach my whole family! :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the kitchen it looks great! Good job Griffen with the orchestra award. You're killing it on the cello and I miss hearing you practice and play. Hallie I'm so proud of you in the VS ! Way to carry on the tradition of ROCKING IT! I told Hna fee's friend Hna Porter hi for her. and She says hi back! So what a small world.

So Hna Starke is my twin, en serio. she is the same personality, skills, body type, letter writing, clothes wearing chica as me. we constantly say the same things or do the same things. In the three pictures I'm gonna send of us- you'll see that we did the same faces without telling eachother.. Mom you need to find her mom on fb.. have krista help you if you can't.. her moms name is cherie. But yeah we're twins and I'm sure ya'll could be besties too.


I have one other thing for you- I'll add it later to another emial because I need my scripotres and don't have them.

Stefan- Oh my genius brother. goodjob on the harvard thing! I'm sure you rocked it. I wish you the best. and I just want to say remember when I left you told me I'd get like 2 letters from you the whole time and yet here you are sending almost one or more a week!! So thats way awesome! Thanks for that! :)

Stuart- I finally understand the subjunctive in your letters! And that makes me so hgappy that i can not only read but truly understand what you're saying now!! You're awesome.
Krista- you're letters are great and I love you alot. I'm glad everything is going well!!  Have a fun summer get tan and cute for me! :))

I love you all SOOOO much!!

Keep up the great work. Ya'll are an awesome family.

Hna Coburn

May 2nd

Hole mi Familia!!

Como estan? This week has been awesome but not super eventful I'll try and recall all that I can! :)

So on Friday we found out we would be getting new schedules and a new p-day- Thus why I'm writing on Thursday and not Wednesday. I also received the sweetest little package on Saturday and wanted to cry. It was the perfect pick me up and those shirts are AWESOME-they'll be great under stuff!!!

 Bahh- from the other emails you've heard I've gained weight since I've been here - not a joy, but whatever maybe i'll get worms in Costa Rica. hahaha

So on Sunday the new General YW President spoke to us in RS. She's awesome and she told us she was 25 with 3 kids and a 3 week old baby when her 29 yr old husband got called as a mission president in Sweden... crazy right! I was like that is only 6 years older than me!!!  She was really awesome and I got to meet her afterwards! I know we'll love having her in charge, along with her sweet councilors as well. So the temple walk we do on Sundays after class.  So this past Sunday the 4 of us sang "I know that my redeemer lives" It was in English and acapella. It sounded pretty great. People were crying and it was just a testament to me how powerful music is. I miss it alot. We don't get to hear anything ever unless we sing or there's a musical  number. But yeah everyone had a solo part in the song and everyone had a duet part and it was really amazing how strong the spirit was in that room. Then everyone bombarded us. I guess I'm a tad prideful about our singing, but i can't deny how awesome we all sounded together.

So we got a new teacher and my FAVORITE teacher isn't with us anymore. Blech no me gusta schedule changes. We leave in 12 days so that's way crazy and  I'm stoked. My spanish is actually coming along so well. Its so surprisiong. We played a game yesterday for HSI- which is Hablar Su Idioma.. which means Speak Your Language. And I had my district close their eyes and I pick someone to be the "nativo." the native. Then after that everyone opens their eyes and we are all trying to convice eachother we're the nativo. So we're speaking solomente espanol. Its so fun. It's amazing to see how much Spanish I actually know and how I can get by with using only like 10 English words a day. I know this will be nothing in Costa Rica but I'm just not gonna work and work my butt off here. So Far I feel really good about winning this game :)

So about another competition. I'm moving up and I'm literally switching with Hermann Starke every other day whose in first place for the most mail. So keep it up. I love it!! :))

Everyday gets a little bit brighter from the mail I receive - its so nice and I've gotten letters from Dayna  and Lindsay so that's cool.  Can someone go on my facebook and ask Janice my roommate what her home address is?  I have a letter but no address. Thanks!

So teaching is interesting, we have investigators that we teach every week and its been going well. I've been told I talk too much and don't let my companion talk enough, but she just doesn't talk a lot so I do. haha. I'm working on it though.  We're teaching Hector whose wife is a member but knows nothing about GOD or MORMONS or ANYTHING so that's been a struggle. And then there is Kambel- who never wants to get baptized and then FINALLY he decides he does and he wants to pay tithing and we're like we know no vocab about tithing, so we're just making it up as we go and his weird switch in the middle of the lesson to wanting to get baptized was just awesome yet random and we're thrown a bit and then hna Boer gives him the wrong scripture 2 Nephi 11:7 which was the scripture she prepared for HECTOR so it was just a super funny lesson this week. But its good we taught a lesson in TRC for 55 MINUTES! who knew we could do that. I didn't it was crazy. The lady was a super amazing volunteer with awesome stories and I want to be here best friend.  I love the volunteers here - they're great.

So Our roommates left for Alabama on Tuesday. So Wednesday we had the room all to ourselves. We invited our other hermanas over and pulled the mattresses onto the floor and had a SLEEPOVER. We followed the mission rules with lights out and quiet time but it was just amazingly fun. We said a combined prayer, all of us kinda popcorning adding our own thoughts to it before closing and its was a 30 minute prayer!! One of the most spiritual moments I've had here. 

I've grown so close to these 3 it'll be so weird to leave them.. I honestly hope I'm companions with Hermana Starke at some point in Costa Rica. 

I'm so stoked to get down there. The church is true. Some quotes from this week "He will do what you can't, if you do what you can." And read Alma 7. I prayed before I started personal study and prayed to know what would best help me teach Kambel and then just opened my scriptures and this is what I opened too.  I love it - absolutely love it and also Doctrine and Convents 103:36 I think. Oh and btw, I've memorized the first vision in Espanol and I've memorizxed my favorite scriptrue D&C 6:36- Elevad hacia mi todo pensamiento; No dudeis, no temais.

Christ is here for US, he LOVES US. So if we focus on him we honestly have no fears in our life. I honestly know this to be true and I can't wait to shout it out to everyone I met in Costa Rica. He LIVES! 

I'll write more but I have to head off to the temple now!!

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN I CAN SAY. YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL AND I'M BLESSED TO HAVE YOU IN MY LIFE.

hna coburn.

p.s. Stuart I could understand your WHOLE letter!!! :)  

April 24th

Hi so my time on my clock says 20 mins. so this might end up being shorter than expected. I actually have 50 minutes but it lies and shuts off after 30. I loved the emails and hearing about your lives. I love the dear elders you guys send. Mail is really a blessing and I can't say it enough. Getting even the littlest thing makes me so happy. I am in 2nd place for getting the most mail in my district. haha. so that is pretty cool. Its because y'all are the best and I love you so much for that!! I got the package and it really made my day. I used the candy and gave it to the 4 new roommates we got that day. And then I gave some to our teacher for his birthday! What a great surprise. I decided that I'm gaining weight here... but its okay because who knows what will happen in Costa Rica. haha. I can't help that the cookies and BYU ice cream are just the BEST. Okay I'm glad Griff found his present and liked it. He looks great and so does Hallie. I'm also glad that the dieting is going well and the new kitchen stuff too!! How much longer for school? 3 weeks? I can't believe yall will be right outside the fence.... I just want you to see me but I know that probably won't happen. The missionary field opened yesterday and I LOVE IT! I have missed the sun and running and being outdoors. I normally play catch with a Frisbee . ultimate Frisbee is illegal.... ughhhh. 

Okay so story time.

Friday night we were going to teach Kambel and I was super pumped and then it was awful, not really but kinda. So like one of the teachers was observing the lesson. And then my companion got her feelings hurt because I talk too much and I realized I really do have a problem not being the one in control. I need to trust my companion more and to trust the Lord. The spirit wasn't really in the lesson and I just wanted to cry. Then after the teacher talked to us and said that he thinks we should interact more with the investigator and that the doctrine and Spanish was great, except it was boring to just hear one person talk. So that night I really prayed and told H.F. how I was feeling. I told Him how I didn't know how to let go of my control and how scared I was to not know exactly how the lesson was going to go.  I really just didn't know how I was going to fix this. I mean, its not a one time thing, I'm just born and raised a control freak. haha. So then the next day Brother May decided that he wanted to give a quick little lesson on HOPE and he read from PMG and how it was all about putting trust in the Lord and having hope that he will fulfill his promises. So that night when we were teaching Rueben. I  had been praying all day and I decided we needed to change up how we were doing the lesson plans. We decided to work on having inspired questions and learning vocab rather than memorizing phrases. This lesson was amazing!  The spirit was so strong and Hna Boer and I literally had the gifts of tongues. We asked open ended questions and yet were still able to understand him and give him responses even though we hadn't prepared for the direction the conversation was heading. He promised to come to church with us and it was so great!   We came out so full of joy and love and it was the best lesson yet. The church is true. The lord will help you, in ALL things just trust in him. So that's the most exciting things from this week! um scriptures to read- Read Mosiah 2,3,4,5 and focus on how King Benjamin is talking about the Repentance process. It is amazing!

Sorry that I haven't had time to write you a letter but I'm doing that today. CONGRATS TO LINDSEY AND HER BABY!!

Okay so Saturday- GREAT DAY! so we played lighting or knockout with the basketballs..... both elders and sisters and I was actually good and ended up WINNING... what the heck right.. little 5'3 me won knockout... highlight of my life. hahah.

Then that night one of the elders gave me a bowl of nasty orange spicy weird dressing trying to be funny and so hna boer put some chocolate frosting in it, mixed it up and dared me to eat it. She told me that she would give me $10 if I could finish it all.. so while everyone in our zone was freaking out and saying NO DON'T DO IT! I did.. I ate it all.  They were gagging and making faces and totally grossed out but I finished all three huge bites and won $10 - totally worth it. hah. I love my district we are so funny.  And STUART one of your friends from your mission taught me, Elder Clarke... he's tall and has glasses and is super cute.. hook me up..... hahah but really.

So Sunday night devotional - was the BYU Mens chorus. and me and hna Boer snuck to the front of the line and got some great seats and I look up and there i see HANNAH SULTAN and I'm like what is she doing here. So then I just yell her name and run up and hug her and it was so nice to see someone I knew. Her roommate was playing the cello for the choir. Then I saw some friends from college in choir and got to talk to them. So so nice. I love the tender mercy of The Lord.

LOOOVEEEEE YOUUU!!!

Les Amo Mucho!!

April 17th

 I love it all! I love the emails. I love the pictures - thanks! I feel like i'm back home with you. I am so sorry if this seems unorganized or if it seems brief i'm trying to be fast with lots of people waiting for a computer.. 

okay, So last Wednesday after lunch we went to the temple and we were supposed to be teaching Pedro that night so I went to the temple with that in mind. I really wanted to say something to effect him and to help him out! As I was in the temple I just knew it would be okay, the Spanish would work out and that the spirit would be there. I felt so calm. So we went in there and we were talking about following Christ and how it is to be like Christ and the characteristics needed, and then we just asked why do you keep letting us come? What are you expecting. And then he said," He wants to become more like Christ and to be happier and for his family to be happier." so I just said then why haven't you been baptized yet? He told me its because it was too hard. So we just said what's too hard? We heard his problems and we just encouraged and told him that through Christ you could overcome it. Then we asked him to be baptized, he was still hesitant. So I just pushed a little more. With Faith its possible, if you have the desire then act. Its okay that its going to be hard because its so worth it! And then he said yes and we said does May 11th work for you and he said he would try to be worthy and ready by that time. I told him that we would be with him the whole time! And that he can pray at any time for help as well! It was so great and I really felt the spirit guiding me and helping me with my Spanish. Pedro is a great guy. 

Okay so Pedro is FAKE. He's one of our teachers.. So far we've just had brother Goodman but now we have two starting from last Friday. So here's the deal. We weren't supposed to know he was going to be our teacher but we did so we wrote VOTE FOR PEDRO on the board when we knew he was coming in to teach. hahah. it was hilarious. 

Okay now for a few more funny stories. Our funny friend Elder Blegen one day stopped study time and said, "Guys I've had a revelation... If Queso means Cheese and Dia means Day.. then QuesoDia means CHEESE DAY!" We all just sit and stare and then we just say umm..... welll actually its quesodiLLa.. he was so disappointed. At like 9:00 everyday we are so spiritually drained that we literally get loopy!! So one day Hermana Starke just starts telling the story of Bethany Hamilton like it's her best friend. She just spent like 20 minutes telling the plot to the movie Soul Surfer. It was so FUNNNY I died. Oh me and Hna Starke are twins btw. We do so many things the same without even realizing it. Then there is our district phrase "Somos Marshall". Elder Marshall is our District Leader. He is SO AWESOME and we all want to be like him! So we say WE ARE MARSHALL. Like the movie, but its in Spanish  so clever huh. He's the one whose in the middle of our pictures looking like a boss. And then there is food time. During any meal me and hna Boer always eat bites of EVERYONES food. We take little bits and its hilarious! They always get so mad. Its almost always when they aren't looking or aren't by their food. So one time hns Boer wanted to take Elder blegens cookie and so she asked Elder Chamberlain to pass it to her while he was gone getting a drink, as Elder Chamberlain was passing it he missed her hand and dropped it in the Ranch dressing and in a moment of panic since Elder Blegen was coming back She shoved the ranch cookie into her mouth and then she put the rest of it back. It was DISGUISTING! so gross. I literally didn't understand how that happened. Then every Saturday we do Swoll Saturday! Its funny. I'll send a picture of our representation of it at the temple with spiritually swoll Sunday. hahaha.

okay so Sunday we had Mary Edmunds talk to us at relief society. She was so funny and spiritual. Here are some quotes "He knows us. He is Happy, cheerful, lively, and when you have his spirit, YOU ARE HAPPY." "God knows your capacity, he will move mountains to help you." " The spirit teaches-that is the language of teaching". "All you can do is the best you can do.

 "we have helpers on both sides of the veil" "DO NOT TOUCH THE ELDERS, NO HIGH FIVES, NO PUNCHES. DO NOT TOUCH THE ELDERS.... BUT REMEMBER AND WRITE DOWN THE NAMES OF THE ONES YOU WANT TO TOUCH!"  Hahaha

did you know 44% of people at the MTC are sisters.

READ THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST BY BEDNAR it's Awesome!

Tuesday we did TRC (teaching resource center) We go and teach members so we can practice teaching. And so we taught this cute old lady in Spanish and then we taught a teacher in Spanish. It was so great. I was so nervous but Spanish isn't bad at all. Then we had decided to be in the choir and we were singing "Nearer my God to Thee. It's so pretty - did you know it has to do with Jacob and Easaw... yep so interesting. I'll write it out in a letter cause i'm running out of time. and then we knew this was a crazy awesome song so we knew that the devotional  would be someone special. And Zthen we had saved seats since we were singing at it that night and then we found out RICHARD G SCOTT was speaking. And it WAS AMAAZZZINGGG!! I'm going to write you a letter about what he talked about but lets just say I was so inspired and touched and the spirit was so thick. No one talked at all during it, which is weird. And then he gave us an Apostolic Blessing and it was an intense one. Then he ended his talk, but as the prayer was about to start he got back up and said some more things. It was so amazing.  If there is anyway you can find it i would read it yourself. It's awesome and his spirit and love for us and his Savior was so strong!! 

So I love you. You are awesome MOM. Dad I love you!! I love the Spansih you always end with it' the best! Thanks for sending me that stuff its so nice! we get 4 new roommates today.I love you all a lot!

Griff don't forget to look for your present. and Hallie I'm glad you gave blood. And its so neat about Lauren! I heard that story and was SOOO excited that my friend found her!! 

Some scriptures for yall

Alma 5, Nephi 31, DC 6, Alma 26, DC 42!! 

I miss you more than you know. I am so grateful for you and for your support and love and examples. I am excited for you to be out here!! And I hope you fix this grammar and organization when you post this on my blog.  :)

Hallie-keep on sending those snap chat pictures!!! Love you!!