Technology is truly a blessing! I cannot
begin to describe how wonderful it was to see Megan’s face. She looks so happy.
She was convinced that Connor wasn’t the one talking when he was. His voice has
changed so much. She challenged us all to be better missionaries. Many times
while she was talking to us, she would speak in Spanish. She is completely
immersed in the work and her Tico culture. Watching her laugh with her brothers
made me cry tears of gratitude and happiness. There is no place in this world
that I would rather have Megan be right now than where she is, doing what she
is doing and standing for truth and righteousness in Costa Rica. May our Father’s
blessing find you… and you find them.~Diane
Monday December 30, 2013
(Friday) Wow. I can´t believe
Christmas is in 5 days! This year is so much better than last year! And I
actually get cold here! (Sometimes.)
My baby bro will soon leave
for his mission. I will really miss him. Out of the blue, my companion looked
at me and said: “You’ll see your brother come home. You´ll see the next one go
and come back. And the next one.” It brought me comfort.
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| My companion and I |
During companionship study, we
watched The Work of Salvation 2. There´s this video that starts off with little
kids singing and they slowly grow until they´re in the mission. It made me cry.
I love this gospel. We start off small-in primary and learn simple truths until
one day we’re allowed to go out and help others be part of this joy. It´s
beautiful. I’m so grateful for this gospel in my life.
As we got on our bus to go to our
area, I sat next to a guy. I wanted to teach him the good word of God, but
wouldn’t you know it, he was already a member! He saw my plaque and said, “Ahh
yeah. You’re a Mormon.” I asked him how he knew about the church. When he was 8, he was baptized. 2 years later his mom took him to a different church.
And he´s been inactive for about....20 years. ¨Mormons taught me not to be
addicted to coffee.¨:) He´s a nice guy. He told me he doesn´t want to come
back, but I´m pretty sure he does. He just doesn´t know it yet. He couldn´t
fathom a couple of things: Why would you leave the U.S?? Why aren´t you
studying to learn and make money? It´s the second time this week that someone´s
tried to convince me that my education is more important. I told him that I
love education. After all, I want to be a teacher someday. ¨Then why are you
here!?¨He asked. ¨So that I could come here, sit next to you on this bus, and
help you remember the covenants you made at baptism.¨ He chuckled. It was a
pleasant conversation: I hope he allows us to help him.
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| I love this country! |
I want all of you out there to know
that I do not regret choosing to serve a mission. I don´t even feel pain for
what I'm ¨missing.¨ I've learned that nothing is more important that this work.
I've learned so much: about myself and about God´s love for each of us. The
things I´m learning here are more precious than gold. I love talking to
God´s children.
Sunday night dinner we ate with la
china feliz, with a bunch of people; it felt like a typical family Sunday
dinner. Then we got an idea inspired by my love for cookies: let´s make
cookies! I don´t know why every time that we make cookies with, or at, la
china´s house they always turn out ¨edible but funky¨, buy hay va. We decided
we´d visit the members in the young men’s, woman’s, the elder’s quorum. It was
so much fun. We all, elders, familia de la china feliz, crowded in the
car with a tin full of cookies and Christmas caroled. I really felt the spirit
of Christmas, which as President Hinckley calls it, the Spirit of Christ. As I
sang with all my might, I looked up at the clear and dark starry night. I felt
(as evangelical as this might sound) like I was singing to baby Jesus. We
eventually came home and sang to M and S. It was powerful. Hno.
C was really frank with them and shared a lot of love. He said, “I hear
them talk about you and see how much it hurts them that you don´t go to
church.” We made a lot of progress thanks to one simple visit. People of the
States, or around the world; DO YOUR VISITING TEACHING OR HOME TEACHING.
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| Lake!! Big lake!! Splash... |
The next day we woke up at the
BUTTCRACK OF DAWN (love that phrase) and headed to San Jose. It was the fastest
bus I´ve ever experienced, I think because one minute I entered the bus, and
then closed my eyes. The next minute we were there- in the big nasty,
overpopulated stinky city. I love San Carlos. I love my country life.
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| My District |
The next day we were in Alajuelah
and had a zone conference. We ate the most amazing gringo food ever. It felt
like a real Christmas dinner: chicken, salad, potato salad, sweet potato pie
with marshmallows?? and Kool-Aid, everything was heavenly! Then we loaded back
in the bus and enjoyed one of the funniest bus rides ever: It was jammed pack
full of Nicas. Nigaraguenses. I was so tired. I fell asleep and woke up
sleeping on someone´s back. Don´t ask questions....
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| Glasses Only, please. |
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| A cocoa bean at the airport. |
I then tried to have a conversation
with a deaf guy next to me. I couldn´t understand pretty much anything, but I
realized about halfway through that it didn´t matter. He was just happy to have
some company. It was awesome to communicate in 3 languages.
I had the best Christmas this year!
I´m so happy! Turns out Nicoya really is the worst. This year we were invited
to celebrate in style. I guess in this culture, you stay up until midnight and
then open your gifts. They all got us a gift
and made us feel loved. It was humble and super fast. Kind of perfect. Merry
Christmas! (For her big dinner she had pig’s feet –
hair still in tact and pig snout… On Christmas Day she had a HUGE tamale that
she ate while talking to us via Skype… she constantly tells us how much she
loves the food there! She also got sunburnt while caroling)
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| La Fortuna play time. |
Skyping home:
It made me feel good to hear about
how many people read and love what I write home each week. I need to make sure
and share my testimony with others.
The Skype call home made me super
trunky, and I love and miss my family. Thankfully I´ll see them soon!
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| Serving our Senior friends |
The highlight of my day was working
at the old folks home. It was humbling. I saw a woman totally alone just
crying. I went over and caressed her arm until she calmly breathed again. I
just looked into her eyes and it was like we communicated like, hey. I know
you. And I tried to tell her that everything would be okay. I later learned she was blind. So I don´t know. But I know God loves her exactly
how she is. We helped some people eat.
They are so beautiful! My testimony was strengthened of the importance of the
Relief Society. I saw woman, Daughters of God, in action helping their fellow
man and sisters. It made me feel good to be part of such an inspired
organization.
DIA DE GOZO, LUZ, Y PAZ
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| Arenol Volcano on Christmas Day. |
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| Pipa Fria Drink (cold coconut water) |
Sunday. Ahhh finally. There were
actually a lot of gringos at church yesterday. (A family from Utah.) I was “Royal Translator”. I translated for the most spiritual Young
Woman’s lesson I have ever seen in this country. Hermana S shared a beautiful
lesson about standing as a witness. She shared the example of Abinadi. She got
really teary eyed when she spoke about him. I saw something I'd never seen
before. Respect for not just a story or character. But respect for a real
prophet. I´m grateful for Abinadi´s example-truly a witness at all times, in
all things, and in all places. I´m also grateful for my scriptures. I know they
were written for my day. They´re treasures! How are we treating our
treasures?!
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| Hermana Flores and Hermana Workman at Arenol. |
After church, my companion and I
were waiting for the elders to go to lunch, long story, and we laid out on the
grass under a blue sky and palm trees.
Oh how beautiful. It was a stop and smell the roses moment and love
where you´re at. We had a conversation about judging people-how we should not
do that. Because it´s amazing how people can surprise us. And I got to thinking
about the one place on earth were we are all equal-where there are no rich or
poor, annoying, rude, critical, etc. The temple. The temple is my Zion because
we go there to remember that God loves each of us exactly the same.
Anyways. I love you all so much!
Thanks for all of your support!
Love,
Hermana Megan Workman
