I'm Sorry, You've Thrown off The Emperor's Groove

Hey Everybody!!

Thanks for all the love letters this week! 

It has been a very unproductive week. But I will let you know about the highlights:

Thursday Feb. 6 2014; today in everything we did, I tried hard to focus on the Savior. My comp and I have been so sick, and yesterday my comp could barely stop coughing long enough to breathe. So today they took us to the pharmacy. The doctor there said he´d give us an injection-shot and I half jokingly said, ¨Ojalá les ponga en nuestras nalgas!* Haha I hope they put them in our butts. Turns out that´s exactly where the needle would go. My comp was a little upset-but seriously I have no more shame in this country. That was probably the funniest part of my day. 

We had a meeting with M to try and re-re-re explain the Plan of Salvation and baptisms for the dead. I´m just almost at the end of my rope-I don´t know how to adequately tell her about the things I know all about temple work. I´m slightly frustrated and flabbergasted....but I know Heavenly Father knows exactly what His daughter needs. I know He´ll allow me to help her-if I put forth effort. I want you all to know that I do know the temple really is la casa del Señor sobre la tierra. I know He can reside there. I know sacred authority was restored to the prophet Joseph Smith. I know every time I´m in the temple I feel closer to heaven. It warms my troubled soul. I really love the temple. I’ve been studying a lot lately about how they (our ancestors) need us as much as we need them.

On the walk to our next apt we saw this frail old lady limping along carrying some heavy looking bags. We offered to help. I honestly don’t know how she made it so far alone. We took her heavy bags and helped her limp down-very-slowly-a mountain. Her name was Cristina. She´s 70 and her mom, living, is 107!! I loved doing what the Savior would do if He´d stood beside me today. I could see that she was just so grateful. She told us she knew God had placed us in her path to help her. I testified to her that God really does love her so much. We sang the song ¨Because I have been Given Much¨ with her and I felt so good inside. 

In our last lesson today, I had a super painful moment in that I really realized that my days here and numbered. I will not be able to do this forever and there was an ache in myself. The other day I dreamt that I was on my last week. By ¨Thursday¨ I´d need to leave and I just didn´t want to. I´m thinking it was more like a vision. It’s nuts how much this culture has truly become a part of me-the best part. And how much I love these people-more then my own!!!

Anyways, I´m off to a better week. I´m so happy. I´m currently super sweaty and hot. I love my family. Brayden, I love you. Ryley. I love you. Connor, you´re just okay. Kidding. Making sure you´re paying attention. I love you Connor. 

Mom, dad, I pray so specifically for you and your needs. I love you!

I love you all so much!

Have a good week!

Love,

Hermana Megan Workman

Neighbors, I´ll see and meet you soon, haha. 

Miracle of the week:  About 2 weeks ago at a district meeting, a family stumbled in. They just wanted to see our benches. We took this opportunity to give them a tour and invite them to church. We gave them a pamphlet, invited them to church, and tried to set up an appointment, but they seemed more interested in the benches then our message. 

Frankly, I´d kind of forgotten them. 

Then yesterday in church about 20 minutes into sacrament meeting, in walks this family of 4. I was so excited, I jumped out of my bench to go and shake their hands and kiss their cheeks. 

It was another reminder to me that we truly just can´t ever really comprehend the good we do each day as representatives of Christ, or as Christians in general. But the Lord knows exactly how to use us as His instruments. I´m so grateful for this opportunity to be His instrument. 

I don´t know what will happen to this beautiful family, but I honestly hope that they act on the spirit they felt yesterday in the church meetings.

To those of you who like me enough want to reunite with me at the airport:

It´s hard for me to describe what has happened to me these past 545 days. The only way I can do it is to have you all imagine a monk. Or better yet a nun. Picture me as a nun. I´ve been separated from a lot of worldly things for a while. And then one day they tell me, okay. Go back to being normal. Wait....what? How? What´s that??!! Picture Bella when Edward leaves her. Or Avatar. When he just stops shaving and gets so lost in the Blue world that the human world seems strange to him. 

I think I´ll need just a wee bit of space. But don´t worry. I´m just as eager to see ya´ll. Just allow me to get my groove back. (I´m sorry, but you´ve thrown off the emperor´s groove. ... sorrrrryyyy ) :) 

I love you all so much!

Most Sincerely,

The world´s most Christian Nun, Monk, Missionary -  Megan

Waterfall and weekly Photos.

Pura Vida

Feb 3, 2014   Today we got out at 7 and went on a hike to Waterfall Cloud. AWESOME. But hard. It was about 7 miles and all uphill and then all downhill. It was awesome. Connor… it reminded me of you and all of our hikes we went on. It won’t be long and we’ll be hiking again.  Ry, the inactive guy with us took off his shirt to cliff dive and his tattoos are of Iguana’s saying “pura vida”. This country is the best. I´m sunburnt now. Which made me laugh as I read Ash´s email. Poor girl.

______-______--______---_______(heartbeats.)

Wed Jan 28   Happy Birthday Bren!

BEEEEP! Yep. I´m dying. Not from trunky-itis, but exhaustion. We have been working so hard, it´s amazing!

Monday the funniest part of the day was when we got locked out of our house. My companion fearlessly decided to just hop the fence. Now when I say that, don´t imagine white picket gringo fences. But high walls, roofs, dogs, trees, etc. She´s amazing.

Today we went to San Jose to get Hna. Coburn´s new comp, from Colombia. I´m kind of bittersweet about it-turns out the TRIFECTA thing was working pretty well. (Triple the effectiveness!-Love that Brayden)

I studied something pretty interesting about Priesthood blessings and how we should record them from our fathers, our patriarchs. Why didn´t I take advantage of that?!

San Jose was pretty chill. We just hung out talking. I RAN INTO HNA V! The bus ride was super relaxing and beautiful. I love everything about this place.  Well the 3 of them want to get up at 5:30 tomorrow and go running.....I said I´d at least try. Wish me luck.

Thurs Jan 29

Can´t.

           Move.

                       My body.

Man I thought I was dead before. Exercising is fun and all-we´re all joking saying we´re on the LGN diet. Look Good naked. Ha. My comp´s pretty much like a professional trainer-so awesome. And she has a tattoo.

Today was a day full of miracles. Our lesson with Y (*Mary’s daughter) went well. Her little ones were running around all crazy and she seemed so distracted. We did the best we could to explain to her that this gospel is what God wants her to have. It will bring her happiness. She´s progressed so much from the first time I talked to her. Later when we visited with Mary, she told us Y had prayed and felt content after our visit. I really hope she listens to the spirit.

Eventually we saw C and the first thing she told us was, ¨I’m going to go to your church.¨ This my friends was a miracle. You have to understand that months ago I invited her to be baptized and she seemed so uninterested. But she said her 11 year old son, M, who usually always listens to our messages-really wants her to go. I´m so happy for her!

Funny story: middle of a lesson, I feel something prickling my leg. This isn´t super abnormal-after all I am in Costa Rica. But I thought I´d gotten rid of it. Nope. Moments later, I feel it at my thigh. I squished it, calmly stood up and out fell a giant flying thing. Gotta love it! This is my life.

Friday Jan 31   Today was a good day, but a slow day. I don´t know how my companion has so much energy especially because she never sleeps! I just walked around feeling around like such a zombie. We got a little off trail looking for a secret trail way in the jungle. As we were standing there, I suddenly felt one million stings all at once on my foot. So I looked down and saw my feet covered with ants just attacking me. So the funniest part of my day yesterday was receiving about 30 bites all at once. Oops. (It eventually swelled up and grew. I think I now have elephantitis. haha kidding. kind of.)

The Lord works in mysterious, perfect ways. Yesterday R called because she wanted to go and visit people. But those plans ¨Fell through.¨ I put those in quotes because looking back, it was all the Lord. R still told us to pass by so we could talk to her sister, V. Remember her? I’d been teaching with Hna. V, but she got scared and dumped us. Yesterday, the Lord let us talk to her again. I just want to do good. She intimidates me-I think because I don’t want her to fall away again. It was a great lesson. Our focus was about the role of the Holy Ghost and how we can receive answers to our prayers. John 14:26 says that the Holy Ghost is the Comforter and also God´s gift to us. I imagine us up in Heaven so happy about the opportunity to come to Earth. Where we could smell sunshine on the pavements. Listen to waves crash. See the sun setting over volcanoes. But then when He told us we wouldn’t be able to remember all of this-because we’d need to be tested-I bet we were a little scared, sad, nervous. (ps mom, yesterday I went to youth Sunday School with Valeria. We talked about the plan of salvation too. Who knew youth were SO AWESOME? They were asking such good questions like: why would God put Adam and Eve on the Earth just to fail? If God created Adam and Eve, why are there some people out there that think homosexuality is okay? I invite all of you to answer these questions for yourselves.) But He promised us that we would not need to navigate this adventure alone. One of these gifts to help get us through, was the Holy Ghost. My favorite part of this verse is that the role of the Holy Ghost is to “bring to our remembrance.” I want everyone to understand that. As missionaries, the only thing we can do is to invite them to remember. What we’re “preaching” is not new. We all heard this plan before. I think what I´m trying to say is: 1. I love being a missionary and 2.  I know the Holy Ghost is real. I know He is a member of the Godhead. I am so grateful for this gift from my Heavenly Father.

Later, C asked us about baptisms for the dead. Always slightly awkward for a first visit-but she was hungry for answers. I remember she asked us-is there proof of this in the bible? And I said yes-and started to look and look. I thought of the answer Paul gives us (I need to study that better.) I was kind of panicky when I heard in my head a voice that said-Hija. Just breathe. Tell her what you know. And I remembered-oh yeah. I do know this. That´s the great thing about this work-we´re not inventing anything. This is what Jesus taught. We´ve all heard about this before. And through the Holy Ghost, we can remember. So I just explained it and testified. Then she asked a couple other questions about our religion: we sanctify Sundays, not Saturdays, right? Joseph Smith was called to open up the last dispensation, that´s where the church gets its name, President Monson, etc. She was like; do you really think God talks to him? And I was able to look her square in the eye and say, I know He does. Even though I´ve never met him, I know he´s called of God to be His mouthpiece. I really hope her and her family can progress.

Anyways, it’s been an AMAZING week. We worked SO HARD!!!!!!!!! I have seen SO MANY MIRALCES! I love you all so much!

Love,

Megan

Hey Dad!

I bet that is a yes. I´ll die with a gringa companion. My Heavenly Father really does know me. I´m so so so so grateful!!!! Spiritually I feel like I´ve grown a lot. Once someone asked me if I could do it all over again, would I? That’s a loaded question. The mission is so hard. Hard because we have to pretty much strip ourselves down, even though we thought we were perfect, and then rebuild ourselves the way God wants us to be. I don´t think at the beginning I realized that was what was going on. And I don´t think I realized that God didn´t expect me to do it all by myself. I look back and realize that of course He´s been with me all along. I´ve learned a lot of church doctrine. I´m learning a lot about the responsibilities involved with church callings. I´m learning how to make the best out of a rotten situation. I´m learning to see everyone as Christ sees us.

Physically: I´m DYING! haha I am so SO sore. But more on that later. Just know I´m good and PURA VIDA as we say.

I love you pa. 

Love,

Meg

January 27, 2014

January 27, 2014

Greetings ya´ll!! This has been an amazing week. I forgot my journal to tell you all the good details, so it´s going to be very short and slightly sweet. Sorry. I’m good, hot, cold and happy!

First things first: I finally saw the temple video. And wow. I absolutely loved it. I learned so much about what it means to be a woman and a wife. I understood my purpose in this life better. I loved also remembering about the covenants I made. It was a spectacular day. 

Then we went to the conference with Elder Cook. Man was that a beautiful meeting. I´ll make sure and write a better letter next week about that. 

Then I met my 2 new companions. (I didn’t move, I’m still in San Carlos, Cuidad Quesada) My real companion is Hermana S. From UTAH. MY GRINGA!!!!!!!! THE WORLD IS GOOD AGAIN!  I love her already. The other comp is just hanging out with us until hers shows up – tomorrow. She´s also a gringa, Hermana C from Georgia. We´ve really enjoyed laughing, talking about boys, how to make lemon squares, embarrassing moments, and of course, missionary work. Seriously though, I´ve never felt more like a missionary. We are talking with EVERYBODY and meeting AMAZING people. Truly prepared by the Lord. I´ve seen the Spirit guiding us every step of the way. I am so grateful!!!! 

Miracle of the week:  We were doing some visits with the C family. (Christmas Day adventures, Friday the 13^th fiasco, owns the restaurant) They wanted to go to a meeting at the church at 5 about our ward, so we thought well I guess we could go, even though we hadn´t planned to be there at that time. As we were walking in, we heard behind us, 

¨Hey muchachas! When does the meeting start?¨

She wanted to come to church. She was just 8 hours late. But we told her, next week! She told us that she´d always wanted to come, but it was always closed. And she was embarrassed to walk in. (roll) She´s in a  wheelchair. We testified that there was a reason that she showed up at the very moment we did. We testified that she wouldn´t feel out of place. She´d finally feel like she was where God wanted her to be. We got her info and set up a meeting. About 20 minutes into the boring and pointless meeting (for us) I realized that although the meeting might not have been for us. We hadn´t planned to be there. But God did. I was once again reminded that He is indeed involved in every second of our lives. I know He knows and loves me. Something so insignificant and imperfect. He looks beyond all that though. He´s always looking for the good in me. I am so grateful for His love for me. I´m also so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ who atoned for all my wrongdoings and mistakes and sorrows and pains and imperfections. It´s amazing what He did. I truly stand all amazed at the love Jesus has for me. It´s amazing and perfect love. 

I love you all so much!

Connor, I´m doing great. I did have Bro Day in seminary. Dad also took an institute class with him. Small world, haha.

Thanks for reminding me about planting seeds. It´s so true! Today I talked to someone I met months ago in Nicoya. She remembered me and told me how grateful she was for the message I shared. I didn´t even think she remembered me. The Lord works in miraculous ways. (His Quote to Meg: "Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.") Good luck with classes!!!!!

Pa, YOU GOT MY FLIGHT ITINERARY?! You´re kidding?!!? Seriously?! Wow. Nuts. I´ve been praying about it all week and I feel like it will be better for us to come back in August, don´t worry. It´ll give me time to CHILL in my house and then miss Costa Rica and come back. All is well!!  I just hope I don’t forget Spanish by then!

Mom, stop worrying. Your babies are doing just fine. We´re having so much fun, I promise. 

Hey Bren! Happy Birthday! I love you! I hope you have a good day!!!! HUGS AND KISSES!!! (She wrote him a beautiful, birthday poem)

Take care everyone!

Love,

Hermana Workman