A Principle with a Promise

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Hey ya´ll!!! I´ve learned that the Ticos celebrate football slash soccer. That’s all… seriously lame. Halloween doesn’t exist here L

For Christmas all I want are letters from each of you please. 

Hope you´re having a fantastic week. Can´t believe we´re about to enter November.

As we strolled around the city, a lot of people stopped and asked us who we are and what we believe. There truly is a difference between the city and farm here. A cool experience we had came as we got in our taxi to go to our bus stop. We got in and in English the cab driver said, “you´re missionaries. I was LDS too.” He´s probably the first person I´ve met in this country to speak such good English and know what LDS is. He told us he knows the church is true, but can´t go back because he likes partying. We gave him the Word of Wisdom pamphlet that talks about how to overcome addictive substances. He seemed interested in that. We both bore testimony about how our interaction was not a coincidence. That it happened for a reason and it’s never too late to turn to our Heavenly Father who always has open arms. I hope our 10 minutes with him helped.   

A less active member made a wise observation that I found important enough to put here:  Imagine going your entire life cooking without salt. Then one day someone appears in your house inviting you to cook with salt. Will it kill them? No. It just makes the food better. That´s what we´re inviting others to do-take your delicious food and try some salt with it. Take all that is good in your life and see if the gospel of Jesus Christ can add hope, joy, and peace. 

Anyways today we worked hard. (It´s amazing how motivating a good umbrella is!) The last time we´d visited with a less active and she´d pulled out iced tea and started drinking it. “Is this bad?” she asked. uhh...yes. So we decided to go over the Word of Wisdom with her. We read all of section 89 of D&C and talked about the blessings of following this principle with a promise. And I learned something. These wonderful saints and souls are teaching me so much. The word of wisdom has many blessings that aren´t written. It can even help you have an eternal family. That´s true! I know that we´re blessed both temporarily and spiritually when we keep the commandments. I will one day have the opportunity blessing and privilege of being the vessel for Heavenly Father´s elect spirits to come to Earth. I know I must obey the word of wisdom. 

One of the coolest moments of the week happened when we visited with another less active member. He´d had a lot of questions about the BOM. As we were about to start, I heard something in my head remind me to invite everyone to listen to the message. For about 30 seconds my natural woman tried arguing and justifying-no its okay, the next time. But I just knew I needed to follow the prompting. We invited his wife, to join us and she accepted. We explained the BOM and how we have it today. I want all of you to know that I know Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. I know God the Father and Jesus Christ showed themselves unto a boy with a question and that through him, the Church of Jesus Christ was restored. As my companion shared the first vision, I looked over at his wife who appeared to have tears in her eyes. I know the Spirit was strong. I pray that she acts on the spiritual confirmations received.

We finally were able to visit a 12 year old girl. The first thing she told when we sat down was, "Hermanas! I’ve been waiting for you. I want to be baptized.” This is a miracle. She´s a very typical 12 year old: boys, music, hair, and clothes. We really had to word our lesson to teach to her needs.

Wednesday was a really bad day for missionary work but a great day for missionaries. We had a district meeting-Elder O´s last one. And then we made pumpkin cookies and they turned out delicious. We then went to a member´s house where they also had real pumpkin so we made more cookies! I came home to a pumpkin hangover. We walked through the door whereour neighbors who remind me of gma and gma Workman had stayed up to give us food. Best neighbors ever award! 

I feel like we walked all over. I am serving in a beautiful country. I looked out at the sunset and saw a volcano. How blessed am I?! 2 different people served us pinto today-apparently I just cry out-I love pinto! haha

The rain here seriously handicaps people. We had a ward activity this week and the members didn´t show up until after the rain. They had an Arepa cook off. They´re pretty much pancakes-but with a Latin twist. It was fun, silly and crazy-but that´s Ticoland. I enjoyed walking around with my umbrella. I actually wanted to ask the heavens-is that all you got? To prove how great and giant she is. I´m sorry I´m talking about an umbrella...We walked home tonight with a lot of fog and it was awesome. I´m serving in the most awesome place. I love it. I´m grateful for this ward and my friends here. I´m so grateful for my calling. I’m grateful for the Lord´s trust in me-for Him allowing me to help His chosen children here.

I am a million percent grateful for my companion who keeps me laughing; through the rain, shut doors and cancelled appointments. As we sat down to plan the other night, we heard our neighbors above us moving. We went upstairs and asked if we could help them move. It felt really good to do something Christ would do. Service just makes me feel good. 

I learned that if we´re thinking about we´re going to say next, we don´t have time to listen. So, this week I tried a little more to worry less about what I should say and more about what they’re saying. 

Thank Elder S for the inspiring letter this week. So, I´ve been thinking for a bit about what it means to be an eternal family. God doesn´t promise us that we´ll live in this life. Sometimes tragedies happen. My deepest condolences to the Paige family in North Carolina (The missionary that was tragically killed in California) and to the Chipman family (mom’s cousin). God does however promise us that we can live after this life. That we can live together with our loved ones. This I know is true. As painful as it is now, I know it is not the end. It just can´t be. I know that this is made possible through the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for this gift. I know that the authority to seal (bind on earth and heaven) is on the Earth.

Family I love you. So much. Each of you. Like Elder S, I love each of you reading this. Thank you for your support.

This week, please pray for an opportunity to share this knowledge with someone who doesn´t have the joy or the hope of the gospel.

I love you all! Take Care!

LOVE YOU!

LOVE,

Meg