Halfway through my Fulltime Service for the Lord!

July 8, 2013

Hello Family!

How are y’all? How did you all celebrate our nations freedom? It´s weird that it´s July. It´s weird that I wasn´t there to have wheelbarrow races with my brothers or build towers with our bodies or have street races barefoot, but I´m grateful I´m here. I really love being a missionary. All my life I´ve planned for this and here I am. I´ve grown a foot or two, or thee, and I´ve got the black name badge to prove it. I really am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve my Father in Heaven.

The Internet place where I´m at is currently showing Back To the Future in Spanish. Hilarious? Yes. VETE, SATANÀS! Haha How tempting! Focus, focus!

Okay funniest quote.... ¨Doctors are vampires because all they want is blood.¨-Marco

What I ate this week? Today I ate leaves of lettuce and a tomato; I know I´ve got you in a state of shock. Just know that the tomatoes are better here and I still don´t like them. But I´m trying to grow a tolerance to them. Think Princess Bride style. That´s also my moto with Platanos. Corrine can explain. Just think fried bananas. Weird, but eventually sweet. I also ate rice and beans, seriously my favorite thing in the world; I also ate some type of meat. It was good. With onions. I thought of grandma. I think I eat onions just to remember them. Haha. Also chopped up potatoes and carrots or something like that. All for 4 bucks. Not too shabby.

Today for pday we went with all the youth and played sand volleyball and basketball. It was so fun!! Afterwards, they all made mangos with salt and lizano sauce. Not too bad. Needless to say, I LOVE the youth here. They are MY FAVORITE people. More on this to come later…

Journal Entry:

“Happy 9 month mark. (The Latinas literally touch my belly and congratulate me. I made it a full term. Haha.)  I´ve officially made it halfway in my full time service for the Lord. People have asked me, was it fast? And I think I wouldn´t use the word ´fast´ but it is weird that I´ve come so far from where I´ve been. (Cue Hairspray soundtrack please. haha) I was told by my trainer 9 months ago that getting to halfway is like pushing a handcart up a hill and the last 9 months are like rolling down the hill. So I haven´t been counting. But, today I´m celebrating. So I´ve been thinking about the plane ride home. (No, I´m not trunky) Am I ready to have that conversation with my Heavenly Father? I want to make Him proud. I was walking the other day and saw a caged horse. I felt bad for him. I thought-poor guy. He´s got so much power. He could climb mountains without breaking a sweat. But he´s just gazing in this field. And I had this weird moment when I was that horse. Am I living up to my potential? Frankly, I don´t think so. I feel like I’m just grazing. But remember that I want to be so much better each day? I was born with amazing potential. (All of you were too!) I feel like I need to start running with this gospel and just truly share the good news with people.”

Journal entries:

¨While waiting in the chapel for our appointment, that never showed up, we asked if we could help the relief society make popcorn for their movie night. The microwave was a joke. The bags would either halfway inflate and pop 3-4 kernels or burn the entire bag. We felt like complete idiots not being able to pop corn with a microwave. P (friend of J, member.) literally and seriously tried telling us that we needed to lay the bag flat and not folded. ¡Nombres!  Anyway midway through the microwave flat-out refused to work. We looked at what we had to work with. A bag of so-so popped and a flat out burnt, yet possibly passible bag. My comp and I tasted what we´d be serving and I about peed my pants (skirt) from laughing. It was nasty. My companion suggested we add limòn-aka save your hide fruit, haha. Oh how funny. I looked at the bowl. I thought about Jesus and the loves of bread and fishes that fed thousands. We needed a miracle to get this popcorn disaster to work. P suggested that we say a prayer. My comp said she already had. When an idea shot into my mind-Ja! (my favorite taxi guy.) We ran across the street and out came his beautiful mom who graciously said yes even thought they were in the middle eating. We entered with scrungy bags of popcorn where we met all of Ja´s family. They were eating wings! Spicy ones I’ll add. They told us to sit down and eat. So kind! Grape juice and wings in a stranger´s house. That´s how we do it in Costa Rica. The people here are so kind! How can I be more like them? I truly love being a missionary. What a fun job it is. They told us to come by whenever we needed anything or just wanted to talk. I love my Ticos. We served up the popcorn and in that moment I decided to chalk it up to a miracle. People of a different faith allowed us to enter, fed us, talked with us and truly helped out a fellow man. I am humbled and truly grateful! ¨

¨Well I did it: I fell into my first hole. (They are seriously everywhere.) It was rainy, dark, and muddy. It was also impossible to see. I've got 2 blue knees and a painful body today. But you just gotta laugh. I truly love the mission¨

Okay Fam-damily and Friends in cyber space.

I´m sending you a GIANT hug from 15 degrees above the equator. I love you all so much! I hope each of you have such an awesome week!

Testimony:

The Lord loves His youth. I remember now that mom mentioned how wonderful my brothers are at leading others to righteousness. Ryley, I´m glad you left and got yourself out of a bad situation. Connor, I’m so proud of your testimony you shared and helped others to do the same. Yesterday was an amazing testimony meeting. For the first time here, there was actually a line of people to get up and share their testimonies. The majority of them, YOUTH! The spirit is SO strong and I´m truly grateful for the opportunity I have to see how the Lord truly is hastening His work and preparing more and more to serve their missions. After church the other day, a member asked if she could talk to us. Her name is K. She lives very far away, but I remember her from my first week here. She came to Gen Conf. and hasn't been back to this ward in a while. She pulled us aside into a different room and struggled to say her word. ¨I just want to...say....the fact that you´re reading the Book of Mormon with my younger sister and my mom...I´m just so...wow, just...Hermana’s, I think what I´m trying to say is, Thank you. ¨Then started to bawl and bawl. I just held her. It was one of those moments where you are just so happy to be a missionary. Truly being an answer to someone´s prayers. Sometimes as a missionary, I don´t get to see the fruits of my labors. I actually asked out loud this week, ¨Do I always have to be the sower? Do I ever get to be a reaper?” But how silly. It´s the work we put into a project that eventually makes it a job well done. We are not meant to stay still. I’m sure when Nephi and his brothers finally made it to the wilderness, they were ready to relax. Sit in a hammock. But the Lord wants us always to be improving. That´s why He asked them to go back to Jerusalem to get the plates. We must always become a little stronger, a little better. I’m grateful for the opportunity I have to work. To truly try to help rescue the lost and the weary. I love my Heavenly Father. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. His sacrifice for me means the world. And I will forever be grateful. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. I know that when Jesus is the center and focus of our lives, we are stronger. I know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers all of our prayers.

I love you each so much!

Have a good week. Look for the miracles and RECORD them!

I LOVE you!

Love,

Hermana Megan Workman

Photos: Hey Hey!

So these are from our adventures Wednesday in San Jose. Let´s just say, Circle of Life.

Hermana Hernandez (my comp right now) was trained by Hermana Lopez (old comp) who is now companions with Hermana so and so and the ex comp is not comps with yada yada yada. Circle of Life and it was good to see everyone again.