April 29, 2013

Hey mom. You are awesome. I miss you one million and one Swedish fish.

Here are my answers... (Pencil at the ready?)

How are you feeling? Great. Really great. No aches, no pains, pure pura vida. Yesterday, I just missed you. I really just wanted your hug. My companion hugged me instead. Now I know that as you read this, you may be inclined to cry. And if that is the case, I will cut off all communications with you. Haha, just kidding. But seriously, I could not be more protected here. Many people pray hard so that I am safe, happy, and warm. There are so many miracles!

Are you in a sketchy area? No. This area has been dominated by elders for the past 18 years. President did a lot of research about the area. He was looking for an area that could be safe for sisters for the rest of the missions history. And Ciudad Colon seriously super ¨tranquillo.¨ It´s tranquil, peaceful, super super awesome. I think I will move here someday. With all of you of course. It's clean, friendly, happy. BEAUTIFUL! We haven´t had money for a while, so we haven´t been able to pay for the bus. We´ve been walking up and down mountains, and it´s great. This is what I decided the other day. If I have to spend the next year and a half of my life away from my house, why not here. It´s heaven. Don´t worry. I am good!

Do you love the area? Yes. Please read above.

What can I get for you? What do you need?  Nothing. I thank you for EVERYTHING! Went to the office and got my package today. Thank you for EVERYTHING! The photos of temples, CTR (HLJ) rings, Preach My Gospels, thank you. And thank you from the other Spanish missionaries who did not have a Preach My Gospel in Spanish. The CTR rings are going to H and V and their kiddos. Their baptism is Sunday. Super excited. They´re great. They love to sing Families Can Be Together Forever. Remember when us kids would get mad at each other and you´d sing that song? Wait, that was Love At Home. The point is, you are a great mom. Seriously, I am amazed at how well you did, doing, and will continue to do. Phenomenal.  

What is our plan for Mother's Day phone calls? Have you found that out yet? Diay, I have no idea. It actually scares me. Christmas was really hard to keep my focus, ya know? It´s tough. But for now, I have no clue. I THINK it will be after changes. So I may have a new area, companion, or neither or all of the above. If it´s here, I would like to use a member´s computer to Skype or call you from the house. I have NO idea what we´ll do. But don´t worry. It´ll be chaotic and nuts, but that´s the San José Costa Rica mission. Expect it. haha. It´ll all work out the way it’s supposed to.

How is your companion? Does she speak English? She´s great. We get a long well, and work hard to improve this area. She does not speak English, but she's trying really hard. I have her praying in English, it´s pretty cute. She has a year in the mission. It´s hard being companions with someone with so much time under their belt, it makes me a little trunky. So many people want to know how long we´ve been here, but I’m trying not to count. We both lie about how much time we have so that we avoid being trunky. But yeah, she´s responsable, smart, kind, helpful, spiritual. Great.

Do you have a cell phone or a landline? Landline. Nobody here has a cell. Well some of the zone leaders in sketchy areas have cells, none of the Hermana’s. Which to me, doesn´t make sense. I know their SUPER pricey though, so all is well.

Investigators? Who, what where when... yes. Miracles! Yesterday we were in the chapel talking, taking a mental break really. I will spare you the details and just say it was a rough afternoon so we were just talking and calming down when I felt like we needed to go to J´s house. Which was silly, I knew his mom was visiting her daughter in Guanacaste. We had no plans, no reason to go. But I just felt like we should. I ignored this feeling and kept on. (By the way, R, his mom… you remember her?? She was so upset that her son has chosen this pathway in life?  She told me I have a REALLY good heart and she loves me. She respects me so much mommy. She is so great! Such a loving mother.) Again and again I had this prompting, so I told my companion. She agreed, we didn´t really have a reason to go, let´s go to meet up with I (another miracle) first and then if we have time, we´ll go.

I. One day, we popped into a pulperia to buy a specific type of chips my comp likes. No other pupleria sells them. There are no coincidences in this life I tell you. He looked at us. I said hello. He then told us he needs help. He recognized us as messengers of God. Religious beings. It was pretty cool. Life´s treated him a little unfairly, and he´s a little lost. We told him we´d come by and visit. We had a great meeting. He felt like nobody was listening to his prayers. He knew that life was supposed to be hard, but he didn´t know what to do. We each bore powerful testimony of the power of prayers. We closed and asked him to offer the prayer. He said he didn´t know how. I taught him. Still nervous. I told him I’d go first, and he could follow my prayer outline. And he did! Such a  great prayer! Then he ran upstairs....humm  okay.... and naturally brought down his guitar. He played us many different songs ranging from the BeeGees to Jon Lennon’s IMAGINE. Yes I was in heaven. Such a treat! He sang in Spanish and English! What a surprise! Life´s full of goodness all around us. Just gotta keep our eyes out.

So after, I said, we need to go to J. His brother, J,  answered the door. We asked for J. Out came R. She invited us in. We chatted and chatted and chatted. Then I asked her if she prayed about our last lesson. Her son, J sat in and listened to everything. R read the pamphlet of the restoration 3 times and told us what she learned and about her questions. She learned that we lived with our loving heavenly father before this life. She said that was beautiful. She asked us about the Celestial Kingdom and said that was beautiful too. She then turned to her son and testified that we were truly messengers from God. She pleaded for her son to study and learn from us too. She said that sacrifices we make (only being able to call home 2 times a year so that we can learn to rely on our Heavenly Father was amazing.) J agreed and we set up an appointment for him. J was sleeping the whole time. Haha. Mom, she knows that we have the truth. She knows it. Their family is so beautiful! I want you to meet them. I want you to be friends with J on Facebook or something. He speaks perfect English. Ask him about his life before baptism. Ask him about his tattoo. Super cool guy!

The miracles continue! Sometimes the natural woman in me is super loud. Annoyingly loud actually. But when I put one foot in front of the other and walk with faith, the miracles come! It´s amazing!

 No Dad, I haven´t ever taught in English. But, Oh! Funny stories slash miracles about English. The other day, I tried contacting two gringas. I asked them in English if we could share our messages. They said no. It´s a lot harder in English. I am grateful for Spanish. It´s like my security blanket. It´s easier to be bold when you can blame your bad Spanish. I think my Heavenly Father knew that.

Also, the other day we were looking for people, less actives. In Costa Rica, you just ask everyone you see if they know, so and so, and they usually do. They then give you the worst directions using only hand gestures and random check points. Anyway, asked two people who were very helpful. They then told me they are studying English. They then asked if I want to speak to their University class tomorrow in front of 25 people in English about everything I believe. (Can I get a SAYYY WHUUUUT??¿!) I said YES enthusiastically. I´m a bit nervous. I think I´ll just state our articles of faith and testify about each one. Wish me luck, haha.

I sleep well. I actually get cold. It´s like 64 to 70 degrees and I’m COLD. What´s wrong with me, haha. But the other Hermana’s brought me a blanket, so I’m perfect now! Mom, I’m grateful for your white blanket you slept with as a child. I think of you as I fall asleep!

oooooshh ooossshsi señor, mi español es major cada dia. dificil, pero ASOMBROSO! 

Okay, my time is more or less up. my comps siting next to me tapping her fingers. she´s polite. we haven´t eaten. haha.

I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!  Thank you for your prayers!

Have a good week!

Hermana Meg