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

"I don't remember His face, but I remember He loves me."

I don’t remember His face, but I remember He loves me….

Costa Rica Mission: My mission has gone modern, I found out through text. ha-ha we have cell phonesª uuuushª hahaª is now and exclamation point. sorryª haha. (New keyboard) so I’m now so hip!!! We´re doing a lot of great things collectively as a mission. I used to knock fences. But there’s just such a better way to do missionary work. So we don’t do that anymore. We get the members involved – it’s through the members that missionary work, WORKS. We´ve been working pretty closely with them and finally yesterday we met 7 new investigators. Finally. I´m pretty excited about them. Naturally we´re working on retention too; keeping the members and getting them back. My personal area has been full of drama for a long time. 

We're getting festive!! Found Christmas lights and pumpkin decorations! 

Highlight: We got permission to go to bed early to wake up at 4 to go to the Elder Amado, from the 70, conference. The bus ride there was awesome. I love my district. We share camp stories, Chuck Norris jokes, and BYU vs U of U jokes. (Please send me BYU burn jokes.)

Elder Amado was great. Three hours of spirit and Spanish. He started off talking about the importance of getting married and having babies when you get home. Naturally that made all of us a little squirmy and giggly. But it was great. I really liked the way he taught what the Spirit would have him teach. I received a lot of personal revelation for how I can improve and really help our investigators.

The Work: Yesterday all of our appointments fell through. We were like, well what a bummerª But I know that when we÷re out doing what we should be, miracles happen.  We felt like we should visit a member’s house. We haven÷t seen the dad at church for a while. We shared a Mormon Message about how forgiveness alleviates our burdens about a man named...Chris Williams. It÷s an amazing message about a man who forgave when it was not easy. We turned off the clip and almost everyone had watery eyes. My comp was like, you talk firstª And as I started to testify, I felt such a strong spirit. I thought I÷d share a little piece of that with you all: (insert Megan’s voice here) “I know that when Jesus Christ walked into Gethsemane, He did it for you and me. I know that when He was nailed to the cross, He did it for you and me. And when He hung there, He openly forgave, even though it was not easy. I know we don÷t have to carry our burdens alone. I know that God lives and loves us. I know God wants us to be happy. I know that there never is anything that can÷t be undone. I love my mission. I’m so grateful I can share this great news with whoever wants to hear it.”  As it turns out, someone had offended the dad. He told us that he’s been fighting the devil and now knows he’s got to go back. It was a great lesson. I’m glad we followed the prompting.

 Hna V and I taught the message of the restoration to a beautiful lady and her and her 10-year-old son yesterday. I felt like I was in my head screaming out a prayer, Please Heavenly Father. Help her to remember. Please. I really truly hope she can act. I hope she can pray to know the truthfulness of this message.

Tender Mercy: The other day the gringo missionary couple serving here, called and wanted to take us out for dinner. They bought us dinnerªªª  We then told her that we were craving pumpkin. Days later she shows up with pumpkin bread and two cans of Libby’s pumpkin. I was soooooooooooooooooooo grateful. She’s amazing. I love youªªª and love the tender mercies.

Pizza....mmmmmmmmm

Goals: Its been super rainy and were running out of people to teach. Remember that family we found last week question mark, why is this keyboard nuts. Well, I called to see when we could go back and the wife was like whenever you want as long as you don’t talk about religion. So that’s awkward....its kind of my job lady. Anyways that really rattled me. We weren’t even being given a chance. But through a lot of prayer and scripture study I think it would be best to give her a dose of King Lamoni. We’re going to serve her. Were going to serve her goodª Step one: make pancakes. Step two: sweep and mop the floor. Step three: slyly throw in a question about religion then bamª you remember the goodness of the gospelª mwahahhahahaha its brilliant I tell you. Genius, Emperors New Groove.

Miracle:  is that I was able to translate for the gringo couple that just moved into our ward. I sat by her in Relief Society and translated word for word. That, my friends, was a miracle. How did that happen++ªª

PDAY:  We went to Pricemart, which is like Costco, trust me its a big deal, and I bought a real mans umbrella, so I finally can stop getting wet, and a big bag of Marshmallow Mateys. I also ate Costo pizza. mmmmmm!

me and my mommy

Me and my mom on my baptism day. 

Brayden, Me and My daddy. Sept 25, 1999

My baby bro Ryley on my big day! 

Daddy and I dressed in white! Ready for my baptism!

My Dad and I on my baptism day!

Connor on my baptism day

Cuidad Quesada: Scenery...its like rolling hills of the Sound of Music with cows and rain everywhere. It’s beautiful. It’s as beautiful as the post cards portray, but hotter than an oven. Also it’s a lot rainier. Which really sucks. Sometimes it gets cold, but I think cold here means...70 degrees? In all forms, I need a sweater. Haha. I never thought I´d need a sweater here. 

Me: Just know that I’m happy. And I know some of the best people in the world. I love that I’ve made so many amazing friends. We keep ourselves laughing by playing 20 questions with Disney characters. My ears are fine. My emotions are fine. Fear not about my health. All is well! 

My Testimony: I love my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I love my Heavenly Father. I don’t remember His face, but I remember He loves me. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. That we need not walk in darkness. That we can find peace. I know that the Lord is mindful of each of our needs and blesses us with what we need, when we need it.

Pretty much the best companion EVER! 

Thank you all for all of your prayers and sacrifices. I truly truly appreciate it.

Para siempre Dios este con vos.

Con Amor,

Hermana Workman

Yes. I mean, si.

September 23, 2013

Do you ever feel like you have so much to say but are just so exhausted?

I GOT MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGE!  Thank you!  The best part was the photo album!!!!! FINALLY PHOTOS!! And the letters… I wanted more letters… All I want are letters.  Please!!!!!!!!!.  Thanks for the candy. Totally gone now. mmmmmm!!!!! OH I love the new tooth brush! Seriously so so so soft! I’ve missed American products! Love the new shirt and skirt. Flashlight tag. Our house is too small.. haha but the candles Bray sent me made me laugh. I think I’ll use the decorations for my one-year mark. oooosh. New journal how’d you know I needed one??!  THANKS MOM!  I got it on Thursday, which was changes day.  I left my comfortable and beautiful Ciudad Colon and I got my first Gringa (Caucasian) companion.

It was really hard to say goodbye to everybody, especially *Mike, Kathy and Johnny. I cried at the injustice of going from awkwardly entering their home as a stranger for the first time to watching them come unto Christ, walk into the house of the Lord and love it. I got only a couple of hours of notice and packing that late sucks. Cleaning that late sucks. But hay vamos.

I met Hermana V today. Yes. I’ve got me a Gringa. She’s from Far West, Utah. She speaks English! And Spanish! My sweet new comp took really good care of me. Cookies at the beginning of the bus trip, a cough drop to suck on when the turns made me sick and she bought me lunch at KFC. Tender mercy.  I absolutely love having a companion who speaks my language. She also checks for cockroaches under my bed each night. She’s got my back. She’s AMAZING!! She is so funny. I’ve noticed how much I miss sarcasm. Like were always just joking around and we both were like SARCASM! I’ve missed it. The Latinos just don’t get it. Hahahah   Also, there was already an Elder Workman here too so when I tell people my name their like freaked out. Who is this phantom Workman??

President has sent me to an area that needs some lovin’. I’m in San Carlos de Naranjo. (Ciudad Quesada...) I don’t know. But I’m about 3 hours away from San José. There are also awesome volcanoes surrounding me! I’m in Alejuela providence, up and down hills to get here. Motion sick, anyone? I feel very far away from the world. Dad, I want you to know the mission pres. was really happy with my work in ciudad colon. We entered it when it was kind of dead and just turned that place around. So he sent me to a pretty difficult spot. The ward here has this huge chapel but yesterday there were only like 30 people. The chapel can easily fit like 400. It definitely calls attention to all the missing seats. It kind of makes me laugh with insanity at the work we’ve got but I want to get lost and just help build up this kingdom.

One year ago on Tuesday I went through the temple to take out my endowments. I was in the Salt Lake Temple with those who love me most on this earth-my parents. It was a beautiful day.

The highlight of my day was helping a little old lady cross the street. We’d passed the street and kept going. But I could see in her eyes how nervous she was. So I went back and offered to help and she gladly accepted. It was funny she like booked it across leaving me in the middle of the street, haha. But I’m happy I acted on the impression. I didn’t loose a thing and felt good inside. I’ve never helped anyone cross the street before. Service is good. Go out and serve someone!

I met a cool convert this week. She’s really sassy and bubbly. I was able to testify to her that I know God is so aware of her and her needs. Do you really believe that? She asked. And I truly do. I know that He knows what makes me sad and happy. I know He knows my name and my goals. I know I am His work and glory. I’m grateful for this knowledge!!

At the end of the day Saturday as we were about to plan my comp looked at me and said, people really open up to you. They trust you easily and it just really made me feel good. She’s an amazing companion. She’s an amazing missionary and I am immensely happy to be working with her. I like teaching with her. We took the wrong road but my comp was like, it’s okay a less active person lives here. It ended up being a powerful experience! Campfire story. (Thanks Stephen K for the idea haha.) (**This means it’s too scary to email and she will fill us in on the details later.)

I liked the talks in church yesterday. Someone mentioned Abinadi. He never had any baptisms but what influence did his powerful testimony have? One word: Alma. There is an important work in planting seeds. We need to be already planting.

I love you all so much! I’m doing good. I know the church is true. I know Jesus Christ restored His church on the Earth. I know He lives to plead for me above, to calm my troubled heart. I know Heavenly Father loves me and YOU!  LOVE TO YOU ALL!

Hermana Meg

PS The reason for the title; I’ve found myself sometimes answering people first in English then realizing that they only speak Spanish. Downside of the Gringa, but SO worth it. haha.

My 22 things I've learned so far

August 25, 2013… the eve of Megan’s 22 birthday. She wrote a beautiful list of 22 things that she has learned from her mission. (In no particular order) I wanted to share it:

1.     I only pray for charity when I need it. This is not good.  I should pray always for this attribute. Also, I’ve learned that I came to this mission without charity.  I thought I had it. I hoped I did but, I have learned so much about this 7 letter word. It doesn’t just mean give what you have to others who don’t. It means not being jealous. Nor proud. It means not hoping for your companion to fall in a hole because she is driving you nuts. It means not getting annoyed, especially at the little stuff. It means hoping the best will come from a rotten situation. It means enduring. Putting one foot in front of the other when you think you can’t.  I still have so much to learn about it.  I still need to beg to have more of it, but I’ve leaned that it means so much more than I originally thought. 

2.     There is more than one way to sweep a floor.

3.     If I have 2 apples and somebody needs one, I’ll give them both because the truth is, I’m okay. They need it more than I do.

4.     Strong winds here means Christmas.  I learned that I love snow.

5.     The church is the same around the world. But the operation is different. 

6.     I love my mom and dad.

7.     I miss reading a lot more than I thought I would.

8.     Suffering is part of the work. My recent convert said to me, “This gospel is like exercise. If it doesn’t hurt, you’re not doing it right.” Sometimes we have to hurt before we get better. I’m learning that it truly is always darkest before the dawn. 

9.     I LOVE my Bible. I rarely understood it before. I always knew I could find truth in my Book of Mormon and that was sufficient for me. But, one of my companions inspired me and I wanted to learn and read it all of the way for the first time. I started in the New Testament and WOW! I have learned that truly out of the voice of two or three witnesses we can know the truth of all things.  I have come to know my Savior. I have learned more about the atonement and what it means to me. Elder Holland said it best, “I love my mission because it was the first time I thought about, felt about and used the atonement in my life.”  How wonderful it is! How grateful I am! I am a little nervous for the Old Testament, but I have faith. 

10.  Salt + mangoes = delicious! (with lime and salsa lizano too!)

11.  I cannot believe I am living with the same seven outfits each day. I’ve learned it can be done. I’ve learned that we have SO much.

12.  I’ve learned I love English. I am so blessed to be born and raised in the USA. I’ve learned that they speak a lot kinder here. That we could learn a thing or two from Spanish. When was the last time you were compared to heaven? A heart? A life? Beautiful, No?

13.  I actually feel like something’s missing if I don’t have beans and rice every day.

14.  Mormon Messages become torturous when away from your family for an extended amount of time. They always make me tear up no matter how many times I’ve seen them. 

15.  I’m grateful for my three brothers – to be the only princess is a blessing!

16.  I’ve learned that spicy things are actually pretty good.

17.  I’ve learned to love the sun. I’ve learned not to freak out at cockroaches or lizards, etc. They’re so commonplace now. Also, if you see a rat run across the kitchen floor and point it out, it’s not cause for alarm or panic. Instead it’s a WOW – look – how – fast – it’s – moving! I’ve learned to keep eating and pluck the hairs off of my chicken.

18.  Happiness is key to making it out alive.

19.  Mom was right.  I regret not practicing the piano.

20.  Miracles exist always. Miracles don’t produce faith. But, strong faith produces miracles.

21.  Angels exist in many shapes and sizes.

22.  Heavenly Father loves me and all of His children SO much.