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. 

fun in the sun

hey hey. so life is so good. i cant believe i'm done with training in two weeks. This transfer has FLOWN by. its crazy biz. its so hot.. i have sweet tan lines. okay so i forgot this but this happened last sunday and its sick awesome. so last Sunday Gilmer, Alejandro, and Chuma got the priesthood. so Gilmer got it first and it was crazy because the person that set him apart was one of the recent converts who got his priesthood the week before. Everyone was really excited about that because rarely do you use your priesthood that soon after getting it. Well after Gilmer got it then Alejandro got it from one of the members, and they like to have someone different give the priesthood to each of the boys so they get ready to get someone to give Chuma the priesthood and they look and say well Gilmer do you want to do it? So he had just gotten the priesthood and within 7 minutes was giving the priesthood to his cousin. It really reminded me of the pioneers and I just keep thinking how really these members are the pioneers here in costa rica. It was probably the coolest moment in my lifeee.

okay so Tuesday we had interviews with the president. It was good. Hes such an amazing guy. So he told me that this last transfer he was going to switch us all up but then the Lord told him not too.. but that he said he is definitely splitting us up this next transfer which makes me really nervous but okayy.. Its weird and i'm just praying i don't have to train. ha.i say this because my Spanish is doing really good for only 2 months in the field and hna o told president that she thinks i'm ready to train someone.. i'm like no i'm only 19 and i only have 2 months here.... no way jose. ha. But who knows. the other thing... president raised the mission standards on July 1st.. and when he talked with me and my comps he said he had special goals for us and so he raised our goals personally.. its been hard but its been really good. i'm glad for the challenge and were def feeling the work-- we're so tired all the time but we know we can do it. 

So Heylen is the mom of Gilmer. Shes a really really inactive member. so we were teaching her about the apostasy because shes still going to her crazy evangelical church and so we get done explaining the church of Christ the one he established while on the earth and we ask what church has these 5 things? she wouldn't answer... we knew why.. because she knows this the true church she just doesn't want to change... so then after the lesson we said okay pray right now and solely ask if the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church.. and so she says a prayer and says "tell me which church is true" and when she finishes Gilmer says no mom you have to ask more specific ask the right way. so she says a quick prayer and says " is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really your church? is it true?" and then when she's done we all just sit there. she just starts crying and she says.. i thought i knew what the holy ghost felt like.. but this  this feeling... i've never felt it before.. and she said I know that this really is the one true church. it was so cool and it was such a strong spirit and just shows the importance of meditating after a prayer. 

So I did splits this week and i was just with hna o again. It was good and only for 2 hours so i wasn't to worried about being just two gringos walking around santa cruz. So our first two appointments fell and we're walking to another house when I see this girl. her names michelle and we contacted her once real quick a week-ish ago. so when i saw her i just knew we had to teacher her no matter what our agendas said. so we go over and start talking and i don't know how it happens but i start leading the lesson. and instead of teaching what we had planned to teach her during weekly planning we start on just the simple topic of "I'm a child of God" it was amazing because the spirit was so strong and I know she's one of those people I was meant to find. She needs this gospel more than any one else and shes so ready for it too! 

So we had a baptism on Saturday i gave a talk and got made fun of because i used the word tuanis in my talk.. it means cool. and its fun to use.. so i use it a lot. haha. anyways... yeah the baptism was really fun and really good but poorly attended because we had like a hurricane of a thunderstorm. hah. 

Baptism

So we've been praying all week to find a Family.. but we've been trying to be specific so we've been praying for a family with a mom and dad and three kids over the age of 8. well all week we've waited for this  and nothing... but then finally yesterday we went and contacted this lady and it was like we knew as soon as we started talking to her all of us knew this was the family. so we just did a little brief first lesson with her and her kids decided to listen to us too... she had three kids. 8,14,17 and a husband. they're catholic but super open to listening to other religions.  so that was a great miracle.

okay wanna hear the funny for the week... when you walk by people you always say hello and people normally say let god accompany you. well we walk by this group of young guys and i'm just me so i'm loud and like Hola Buenas! and they're like Hello. Hola.. blah blah.. and then i hear Let God accompany you. and so I'm like Okay you too! and then were just walking away and i hear them all laughing and hna bojorque says.... they said 'we want to accompany you'...... so that was acca awkward. ha.

and to answer moms question.. im not going to cut my hair anytime soon. i've heard too many horror stories and i just wear in a pony or a bun.. so its like ill just deal with it til it too late. hah.

Love you all! The church is sooo true!! 

'Mate--it is like a grass and water drink'

Me trying mate..its sick and gross

Hna Bojorque is 'addicted' to it and drinks every morning...blecch

my poor tow-right now it is completely raw and all the skin has come off.
 It looks like I am a burn  victim because its baby skin.

Happy Camper

Okieee Dokieeee-

Hola! I´m such a happpy camper. okay so the mission is amazing. like i dont say that enough. okay

Monday after writing we went to visit the wilkinson family just to say hi cause they are so nice. We talked and talked and she made us brownies and ice cream and then she told us that TWO GRINGO FAMILIES ARE MOVING HERE TO HELP THE BRANCH! this is the best news in the world. because they will help this rama so much and it'll grow and hopefully they'll help the asistencia be over 100 for 3 months so we can get a new capilla.

weird fruit

 so Tuesday we had a zone meeting and that was really fun and really great and I learned how to teach members how to share the gospel. but this is why the zone meeting was so fun. I got a PACKAGE from my dear dear family and i got a letter from Brett (Newberry) Schmidt. So I cant say how amazing that package was. The clothes are AMAZING ya I've already worn them. that shirt is perfect thinness and the skirt is the best tooo. the funny part is the soap. it smells so good and it made everything in the box smell the same! Its the best. my clothes all smell like home because that soap makes me think of you. so thank you thank you thank you for that. and i saw the price so i hope you know you don't need to send me a package ever again. hah. that's way too much for a little piece of home.  so Alexander is doing okay.. hes really sad that he isn't baptized and he just keeps saying i feel bad i feel sad. and its just a testament of the guilt that you feel when you know the truth and don't act on it. or when you know you've sinned and don't repent. he's working though and we're thinking he'll be baptized this month. 

Selfieee

So On Wednesday we worked our butts off. we had 9 lessons. we worked really hard at teaching effectively and efficiently. 

So we're working with this one lady named Magda. She's been to church twice and we're working on getting her baptized this Sunday. So we have visited her ever day this week. She has a really sad story she has a  30 lb tumor and its malignant and she has 3 small kids and 2 teenager. her husband died like 2 years ago. and so its just really hard. but we're teaching her and her two daughters and they're golden. they read and not just read but understand and they pray and participate at church and they're really interested in the church. they should both be baptized by the end of this month too! 

okay so Testimony of prayer- Two experiences. so i am good at not just throwing out money and buying expensive stuff so i had some extra money by the end of this pay part. and my comps were out and so i was really inspired to give them each some money. just in secret so they wouldn't know but so i felt like i was helping since in the first part of my mission i used the general stuff they bought. so i slipped 10 mil in Hna Bojorques box of books and i slipped 10 mil in hna ogletrees wallet. as we're getting ready to leave for the day hna bojorque says, I've been trying to figure out all morning how i was going to pay for the medicine i need for my infection on my legs and as i was praying to find out what to do i went to get my books and i found ten mil. do yall know where it came from. and i'm like no. but there it was. i was able to be an instrument in the lords hand. Part one of my lesson. we need to listen to the spirit so we can be the lords instrument and help answer the prayers of others. and two I talked to this one lady in the street randomly and she was like i've seen yall and i want to learn more and then she was like i'm only free on Fridays so i really only saw her once. and then we saw her in the street once more that day and we waved but that was all.. then after teaching Magda (tumor lady she lives 10 minutes away in bus) we missed the bus. and we didn't want to waste a whole day waiting for buses but what else can you do and so i'm praying so hard that a taxi passes i don't even care if its expensive and then the member we were with gets a phone call and tells us we need to leave the bus stop. he said someone saw us and told him that the bus stop is sketch and people get robbed when its dark (which it was). so then we're just walking down the side of the road when this huge bus pulls up and says get in. Its this girl i talked to in the street. she said I had a feeling should help these people and then it turned out it was yall! So that's part two.the lord answers our prayers and he does it in his own way. 

funny quote. We're teaching our eternal investigator maria. and we're talking about prophets and we say we have a prophet today Thomas S. Monson. So in spanish that is said differently so say it with a spanish accent.. anyway.. she says OH! i thought this whole time when i heard that in church that you were saying Thomas es un monster. hahahahahahahahahhaha. we died. because its so true it sounds the exact same. hah

oh and they have this stuff here called bebida de maiz. and people drink it here when they're converts and used to drink coffee because supposedly it tastes a lot like coffee.. well.. i had it and it was like drinking coffee.. its crazy. and it was kinda good. but its literally corn flour drink that is hot. 

Thats this week! 

I love yall all sooooo much! I loved the emails this week and i loved the pictures from hallie.

#mishlife

Okay so this week,

Monday- This was one of the best p-days we got all our errands done and came home and chilled, but this is when the fun starts. We decided to make ranch from the packets that the Spauldings gave to us and then we ate it with broccoli.. i died a little bit it was so good and fresh. then we melted chocolate and dipped bananas and then we had bought pretzels to dip. so we dipped them in chocolate then in melted peanut butter then put dulce de leche on over it and some salt and we basically made homemade take5s. then we poured the leftovers over cornflakes. that was amazing. it was the best. then we had a family night with a family so we made them no bake cookies and then did a fun family night with them. At the end she said wait here... and then she gave us hot dogs. its a big thing here hot dogs are like some sort of special thing. they were good. 

Wednesday- Today we did intercambios with the sister leaders they took hna bojorque and left one of them with us here. It was fun but I felt bad because after we picked her up we went straight onto a bus to go to our district meeting in the next town over. This district meeting was good. It was the first one with our new district leader. We only had a 10 minute lesson and the rest of the time we did practices. It was weird but I know that it helps to practice and role play. it was nice practicing with just hna ogletree and not being in a trio. After that we taught a few lessons and then went to our weekly ward activity. I loved it because Gilmer and Alejandro came to the activity. They really enjoyed getting to do something a little more light hearted with the ward and yet they still were able to learn more about the gospel. I am grateful for the change because hna Zumba is awesome. I learned alot from her. And I was really nervous at first and I didn´t want to talk or anything because i don´t know spanish and i´m not that good of a teacher and i just felt insecure but during personal study i was reading in spanish and I read a scripture that I know ive seen before but when I read it in spanish I just felt so much peace and calmness. It was when alma is teaching zeezorum and hes backing up what amulek just taught. and it says he just opened his mouth and testified and explained the scriptures. The simplicity was so amazing for me because its so true. we just have to open and speak. and it'll come.

Thursday- So after we picked up our comp. We had to do four interviews.  they take like an hour and we have to wait while they happen but we had appointments so Hna Bojorque and one of the young women waited at the church and me and hna ogletree went out to go teach. it was so crazy. i was so scared because I thought I can´t do this in real life just two of us and both gringos. but then it just happened. I spoke and I testified and I didn´t really care if my spanish was bad I just knew I had to get my point across as best as I

can. And it worked. So that was just a testimony that you have to trust the Lord. He´s called me so I know that he trusts me to do this work I just need to trust him enough to do it. So two hilarious stories. So we´re teaching this menos activo and we´re sitting on her porch. She´s on the ground leaning on her hands and we´re in chairs. we´re in the middle of a really good part when her new puppy walks over and sits on her hand and then just starts POOPING! not like a log but like nasty liquid diarrhea. It was everywhere. and so funny and so gross. she left for like five minutes to go clean up and everything.. but yeah hilarious moment.

Then we have this little 4 yr old boy named Hernan. He is so adorable he acts likes hes 24 literally. We call him our novio because hes just so cute and so funny and he just always gives us the best hugs. haha So we´re leaving his street and he comes running up and yells HERMANAS! so we stop turn around and he's still running after us so he comes up to us and I squat and point to my cheek and he gives me a kiss on the cheek and then 

he struts away.. until he reaches a car and then he just leans on it like he's the biggest stud in the world. Hna O could not stop laughing. I told her its not my fault I have a stud for a boyfriend. haha. So all of our interviews went really well and afterwards we went to teach an investigator named maria- we had gone by the day before to set up an appointment and when we got there her family was there so I'm more comfortable talking with little kids so while hna o was setting up the appointment i was talking to her two nieces. So we get to her house and her nieces run out and say the gringos are here! so they decided to make a plan for our visit. they had us play pin the tail on the donkey and then they made us food. it was such a good good day. I can be a real missionary. who knew. hah. 

Saturday! So we got everything set up for this baptism. I worked on learning a song to sing because that's like my new calling... ward baptism musical number. haha. and then we made a quadruple batch of no bake cookies. so so good. and then we got to the church and set everything up and it was just really great and then we had our boys start showing up and they were all so excited. Gilmer and Alejandro brought their inactive mom which was a miracle because she didn't want to come. And then Chuma was there and all ready. and then Alex showed up and he told us he didn´t feel prepared and some stuff and we talked it out and so he left and we were going to talk to him and help him prepare a little bit more so hopefully he´ll get baptized this weekend or the next weekend. the baptism was awesome though. We had so many people and the musical number got changed to me singing i´m a child of God with our branch president and he sang and played it on the guitar.. and then afterwards we had this pancake thing and it was just a really good day. They all felt so happy.

Sunday- Church was great. our boys came and received the holy ghost and they were all looking so sharp in their white shirts and the testimonies born were awesome and then at four we had to leave on a bus to go to San Jose to pick up a package for hna bojorque. I was so excited because i thought i'd get to pick up my package too but the zone leaders took all the mail and packages to our zone so i have to wait even longer to get it because now its in guanacaste. blech. oh well. but the point is this morning i got a HOT SHOWER! My first hot shower in two months!! I was so happy and its been a good day. 

So no package yet but i´m pretty sure its here I just haven't gotten my hands on it. fun fact the stake president from florida in the broadcast was the dad of the sister in my district here. cool huh. I love all those pictures they're great. I love you all so much. Stuart that's awesome with the motorcycle.

love you all. byeee.